


Home Alone in Pure Heart Valley

by Azure_Umbra



Category: Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart (Cartoon)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Special, Home Alone Inspired Shenanigans, Parody, References to Home Alone Movies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:07:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 34,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28205097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azure_Umbra/pseuds/Azure_Umbra
Summary: It's Snowfest, and the Sheriff's Department has been asked (well, ordered) by the king of Pure Heart Valley to organize a holiday trip for some of the Sweetypie children. In the morning mad rush to make it to their vacation destination, they all make one little oversight involving a little blue bat-deputy who ended up getting left behind.[*Illustrations on Chapters 1, 6, 11, and 15*]A Christmas-themed 'Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart'-story based on the film 'Home Alone'.(Happy 30th anniversary, Home Alone! & Merry Christmas, everyone!)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	1. The Night Before

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ShadowBanking101](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowBanking101/gifts), [Shapeshiftinterest](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shapeshiftinterest/gifts), [Super_un_stable](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Super_un_stable/gifts), [Floopaslopp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Floopaslopp/gifts), [ChexNix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChexNix/gifts), [Hekmugi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hekmugi/gifts), [HowlingScrawler](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HowlingScrawler/gifts), [cafemeow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cafemeow/gifts), [NoOneOfYourConcern6](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoOneOfYourConcern6/gifts).



It was a snowy and windy night in Pure Heart Valley. Being that it was currently in the winter months, fields of white blanketed every part of the land. Apart from the whiteness, the currently snowed-on roofs of every building in the town areas, houses on the Ruby Pure Heart spire, the palace, and beyond were alit in many colors based on the strings of decorative lights hung up by the Sweetypies.

On a cliff a good distance away from the main town, the headquarters of the valley’s Sheriff’s Department was not only lit up, but reverberating with a number of voices crowded together from within. But that was white noise compared to what was actually happening inside.

“Wee! This is so comfortable!”

“Hey, Kevin! Sofia’s for sitting, not jumping!”

Badgerclops had to hurriedly catch the little teal porcupine in the air as he bounced up and down the sofa, feeling a little miffed that the beloved piece of furniture was not being respected as it should. At the same time, Mao Mao was in the middle of giving a lecture to Ketchup and Chubbum about how to properly pack luggage while following them as they walked.

“No, you don't just jam clothes into a backpack like it's a pencil case! Why do you even need that many shoes and bows anyway?”

Neither one of them seemed to be aware of the sheriff's grouchy voice and related facepalming, as they were having too much fun packing to even think about doing it properly. But who could blame them? After all, it wasn't every day that the Sheriff’s Department was taking the whole class on a holiday trip Lunarton City for Snowfest this year.

“My papa tells me it's important to prepare your feet in all kinds of winters,” Chubbum answered the sheriff.

Likewise, Ketchup also gave Mao Mao her answer. “I wanna see what other people think of my pretty bows when they see me.”

Mao Mao was nearly at a loss himself. “For the last time, you need to be wearing winter-appropriate clothes for your own protection! Actually, scratch that! Do you even wear clothes?”

At the same time, Adorabat was near the attic with Plippy and Lucky. All three of them were discussing the details of packing.

“What are you taking for the trip?” she was asking the two Sweetypies with her, apparently trying to follow Mao Mao’s example of how to direct the others in proper packing. It wasn't like she didn't have it together. “You need to take the most important things.” She noticed that neither one of them seemed to understand what she was saying to them, though they weren't simple-minded enough to not say anything back to her.

“I wanna take my pet spider with me,” Lucky said innocently. In his hands was a little clear plastic tank containing a hairy spider that was a few inches long and fewer inches wide. Adorabat, unsurprisingly, wasn’t alarmed by such a sight, though neither was Lucky, as he was the owner. Plippy, on the other hand, was less than pleased.

“Ew! Keep it away from me!” Plippy cried in disgusted fright. He ran away and got right behind Adorabat. “Take it away!” he demanded.

Lucky was just as displeased to hear such words being spoken by his fellow Sweetypie. “Hey! Don't talk like that about my spider! Don't touch my spider either, Adorabat!”

“ _I wasn’t going to,_ ” Adorabat thought. While she liked bugs as much as Lucky did, even she didn't think it was safe to bring pet bugs on a winter vacation. It was just way too much trouble. But that didn't keep Lucky and Plippy from loudly arguing with each other with her in between them. Adorabat pressed her wings against her ears, trying to block out the pointless fighting.

Meanwhile, Badgerclops was having a harder time trying to get Kevin to cooperate. As soon as he within attaching distance of Mao Mao, he matched right over to him. “Mao! Is there any way we can change this trip?”

Mao Mao growled in fatigue. “If only I knew, Badgerclops. Of all the times for the king to be so unreasonable in telling us to host communal class vacations, it had to be on Snowfest!” He was simultaneously demonstrating the proper packing procedures to Chubbum and Ketchup as he was talking. “It's not like he was going to take no for an answer.”

“Well, you would've just told him no anyway,” Badgerclops said. “Go by popular vote!”

Mao Mao sounded rather displeased at what his friend said. “Well, maybe I would've gotten the king to reconsider that way if you backed me up. You caved the moment he threatened to not host a return banquet if you refused.” Badgerclops held his mouth shut, feeling like his friend had him cornered on that statement.

Neither the badger or black cat noticed Adorabat flying towards them both. “Guys, can you make Lucky and Plippy stop yelling at each other? It's giving me a headache!”

“Not now, Adorabat,” Badgerclops dismissed her without even looking. “Kevin here’s giving me a headache right now!”

Adorabat immediately went over to Mao Mao. “Mao Mao, Plippy and Lucky are yelling at each other. Make them stop!”

“Adorabat, my hands are already full with Ketchup and Chubbum right now!” Mao Mao said irritably. “Just…make them compromise or something…”

Adorabat frowned. She turned and flew up to the attic at the top of the stairs that stood on HQ's ground floor, making sure she knew the lights up there were on. She entered to find her dad Eugene deeply engrossed in the detailed content of several papers attached to a clipboard.

“Dad, all the other kids are being ridiculous and Mao Mao and Badgerclops aren’t helping!” she complained to him.

But Eugene didn’t lift his eyes from the clipboard, though he did hear what his daughter said to him. “Sorry, Little Gem. I know it’s hard, but I really gotta make sure we got everything else planned for the trip. Just, uh…bear with it, okay?”

Adorabat pouted. “I’ve been doing that since Lucky wanted to bring a spider on the trip! How come I don’t get to bring a pet?”

Eugene was already starting to feel the nervous stress pile on, hoping it wouldn’t result in him having to clear his sinuses of all moments. He put down his clipboard and went right over to Adorabat, holding her a bit. “Please, Adorabat. This trip matters to everyone else, if not you. I’d love to tell the king that spending Snowfest at home is better, but this doesn’t happen every year. Let’s allow everyone to have fun, okay?” Adorabat didn’t say ‘okay’ back, but looked away with a reluctant nod. With that, Eugene let go of her and went back to his clipboard. “Go pack your things, if you’re bored.”

Adorabat then left the attic, though not before landing on one of HQ’s rafters in the main atrium. “Nobody’s listening!” she proclaimed. “This house is so full of people that it makes me sick! When I grow up and be sheriff, I’m living alone! You hear me?” She made sure to holler directly at everyone below, even making sure her dad could hear her in the attic while jumping up and down on the rafter beam with a stomp. “I’m living alone! I’m living alone!”

Her tirade was cut short by a knock at the front door. Mao Mao was the first to respond by going up to the door and opening it, revealing the visitor to be a delivery guy holdinga familiar stack of flat boxes. Mao Mao would have pointed out the obvious about what they were if it wasn’t for Badgerclops so savagely beating him to the punch, saying only one word: “PIZZA!” It wasn’t any easier for Mao Mao when Badgerclops shove him aside hard enough to go flying.

By the time Mao Mao got back up again, Adorabat already dove for the scene, just as eager for pizza as the next Sweetypie. Undoubtedly, Adorabat shrieked for a slice as loudly and shrilly as Badgerclops did. Mao Mao walked into the kitchen to find everyone having gathered there, appropriate as that was where meals were to be partaken at in the first place.

Adorabat, on the other hand, was flying around the crowded and chaotic table space, observing the other kids and Badgerclops scarfing down their share of slices in search of some of her own. She was checking plates and even pizza slices until she got next to Chubbum. She made sure to direct her voice to Mao Mao, Badgerclops, and Eugene when she decided to speak.

“Has anyone seen the mealworm-topping pizza? I think someone forgot to order it.”

Mao Mao and Badgerclops appeared to wince at the sound of such a name, while the other Sweetypie kids appeared to be confused. Eugene was at a loss with what to say to his daughter, though it was more due to not expecting to hear something like that from her, an inconvenience at most. Unusually, it was Lucky who gave her an answer as everyone else resumed their eating.

“The mealworm pizza was here,” he said, “but I wanted my spider to eat too, so I gave it to ‘em.”

Adorabat was silent. In fact, all the other kids fell silent too, leaving the adults to wonder what that meant. “Where’s the rest of it?” she slowly demanded to Lucky in a raspy whisper, making the others try to move away with the slices in their hands, not taking their eyes off them both.

Lucky wasn’t sure how to phrase his answer, but it was better to just answer the bat. “I liked the mealworm pizza, so I got myself a lot of it. I still gave a few more to my spider.”

That was what told the other Sweetypie kids to flee and hide behind the adults. Adorabat dove right at Lucky in a shrieking fit of rage, swooping down and sending the green mouse into the air, prompting Mao Mao to dash and grab Adorabat while Badgerclops extended his robot arm to catch Lucky before he landed on the pizza sitting on the table.

“Adorabat, stop!” Mao Mao exclaimed once he got hold of the little bat. By his side, Eugene also put himself between his daughter and the other kids, hoping to give her another reasonable face to look at. But Adorabat continued to growl and snarl at Lucky, who was looking quite frightened himself, prompting Mao Mao to carry her out of the kitchen. Once both were in the clear, he went on to try and have a talk with her. “Adorabat, what were you doing? The night’s as hectic as is!”

“Lucky’s being ridiculous again!” Adorabat pouted. “It's dumb enough he's trying to bring a spider on the trip, but now he wasted my favorite pizza on it and took so much for himself! He didn't leave any for me!”

Mao Mao took a deep breath. “Look. I know it's…not good, but we really don't have time to be fighting over small stuff like this right now. The last thing we need before we leave for Lunarton is another mess.” He looked past the kitchen entrance to the door leading to the bedroom. “Just…stay in the room and we'll bring you a slice or two later.” Adorabat just pushed out her lower lip with a glare in her eyes before marching off to the bedroom, slamming the door in the process. Mao Mao frowned, then headed back to the kitchen.

Back in there, the kids resumed their pizza-eating with nary a trace of what has just happened a minute before, even including Badgerclops who felt the same way. Mao Mao wasn’t surprised that Badgerclops would be like the kids in taking such an emotional event in stride, but he still couldn't quite get used to the sight. “Really?” the black cat sardonically asked the badger.

“Hey, the pizza's not gonna eat itself,” Badgerclops casually reasoned with his mouth full, “and you know how I don't like letting good stuff go to waste.”

Mao Mao simply shook his head before deciding to help himself to an available slice. He turned to see Eugene who was checking outside the kitchen for Adorabat. “She's cooling off in the next room,” he told the older bat-Sweetypie. “She’ll come around.”

Eugene sighed. “I sure hope so. You sure the valley will be completely safe while we're away?”

Mao Mao sighed even harder. “That's a question for the king, not me.” He looked out the window. “Then again, winter this year’s forecasted to be the coldest on record, heaviest snowfall too. The Sky Pirates will be too busy shivering to try anything, and most monsters will be in hibernation thanks to the snow.” He paused again. “Well, it better be true…”

* * *

Later in the night, everyone had now gone to sleep. The Sweetypie kids were fast asleep in the main atrium while the main trio plus Eugene were in the main sleeping quarters – Mao Mao, Badgerclops, and Adorabat were in their triple-decker bunk bed while Eugene hung from the ceiling nearby in slumber. But unbeknownst to everyone asleep, Adorabat was still up. Despite having received compensation in alternative pizza slices by Mao Mao, Badgerclops, and Eugene, she was still hung up over the fact that Lucky still got away with his misdeed.

“ _Stupid Lucky, stupid spider, stupid other kids_ ,” she huffed in her mind. She released herself from her upside-down perch on her part of the bunk bed, flying out of the bedroom and into the main atrium where the other Sweetypie kids were sleeping. She took a long hard look at all of them before flying up to the attic. She really wanted more privacy at the moment and she already spent enough hours awake stewing over her slight. Latching onto a ceiling beam in the attic, she tried to get to sleep. Eventually she did, though before she drifted off completely, she had one last thought to herself.

“ _I wish they’d all just disappear._ ”

* * *

The whole winter night in Pure Heart Valley, while everyone was asleep, began to pick up rapidly. Its winds blew faster and the snow began obscuring the landscapes, so much so that ice was forming over every building it could get its clutches on. A few such icicles happened to start gathering near the cylindrical power generator that stood next to HQ's dormant waterwheel. The ice spread until it enveloped the generator, building up until it caused the machine to flicker several times for a moment before it whirred down completely. Luckily, HQ's auxiliary power supply kicked in, but by that time, whatever digital timers were set in place were already reset.


	2. Day 1

It was well after the sun had risen, but it was at least still morning. Outside on the front porch, a group of adult Sweetypies clad in purple, apparently affiliated with the royal palace, stood at the front door, knocking hard and loud several times.

“My, it sure is tiring to be doing this so early in the morning,” one of the present guards commented with a yawn. “Sure would be great to sleep in later.”

“You think they're taking their time in there?” a fellow guard asked.

“Well, it is early after all,” the first guard replied. “I don't imagine them getting a lot of sleep.”

* * *

In the main sleeping quarters of HQ, the sound of the knocking reached Mao Mao's ears, making him stir and open his eyes. He groaned groggily while he checked for a nearby clock. When he saw that the digital clock wasn’t showing the time (it was blinking 12:00 nonstop), he looked another direction to check the time on the nearest battery-powered clock. Mao Mao’s eyes were wide open.

“BADGERCLOPS!”

Badgerclops snapped awake, yelping in fright from Mao Mao's sudden shouting and also in pain from accidentally whamming his head on the ceiling since he was on the top bunk. He fell right off his bunk onto the floor, making noise which awoke Eugene too. It was only when both badger and bat finally got their bearings and looked at the cat with the same understanding that it became clear.

All three of them were yelling the exact same thing at the exact same time. “WE SLEPT IN!”

The next half-hour was spent aggressively waking up the children and hustling them to pack up the last of their things, ignoring the overlapping chatter that filled the air as Mao Mao spent ever other available second telling the kids to move it. Everyone was scrambling around and by the time they were finally out the door, they were running and jumping to the aerobuses. At the same time, Quinton was moving everyone's luggage to the back of said bus.

“Badgerclops, count heads to make sure we have everyone!” Mao Mao commanded as he busied himself with locking every door.

The badger hurriedly looked over and lightly tapped each Sweetypie’s head with his extendable robot arm to keep count. He tapped Chubbum, Lucky, Kevin, Ketchup, Plippy, and…reached his arm over to the back of the aerobus to tap the last head, which was supposed to be Adorabat. Quinton stopped for a second when he felt Badgerclops’s arm touch him, but he resumed cramming the luggage in the trunk without another thought.

By the time everyone was crammed in the bus, Mao Mao was the last to enter. “Did you finish counting?” he said to Badgerclops. “Is that everyone?”

“Seven Sweetypies – six kids, one adult, plus both you and me,” Badgerclops recapped, “and one driver to take us to the aeroport.” He finished off his statement with a pointed finger at Quinton who was in the bus’s driver's seat.

Mao Mao nodded in approval before turning his attention directly to the front. “Good. We better get a move on then. QUINTON!” Quinton immediately revved up the engine and made the bus take off, going directly to the aeroport.

* * *

Once everyone arrived at the aeroport, they all immediately grabbed their luggage and rushed into the main hall, making sure to have goodbye to Quinton first. While everyone was sprinting – well, mostly just Mao Mao and Badgerclops each carrying half the group of kids in their arms while Eugene flew to the departure gate with everyone's tickets in his wings. He hoped the mass aero-transport craft hadn't taken off already.

“Did we miss it?” Eugene panted once he reached the lady who stood at the desk next to the gate.

The lady answered him just as promptly. “No, you got here just in time.”

Everyone cheered in relief, unhesitatingly charging into the boarding bridge as Eugene have the tickets to the lady to process. It took no time at all, but everyone was seated and could finally relax and breathe easy. Mao Mao and Eugene were visibly relieved while Badgerclops was happier that the rush was finally over with.

“Made it!” Mao Mao remarked triumphantly. “Just before takeoff too!”

Badgerclops just sank into his comfy seat. “Let's never go through this again,” he sighed, content with taking a nap as soon as everyone was in the air.

“I sure hope we didn't forget anything,” Eugene chimed in before the giant transport vehicle powered up its engines and began its ascent into the sky.


	3. Chapter 3

Back in HQ, all was empty and quiet. From the top of the stairs that led to the attic, Adorabat peeked around the corner, looking rather like she had just gotten up from a deep yet restless slumber, evident by the wrinkles under her eyes and stray tufts of fur sticking out from every part of her face.

Still half-asleep, she gently hopped down the stairs and walked over to the main bedroom to access the bathroom for use. When she was done, she then went over to the TV to turn it on, then entering the kitchen. She helped herself to a small snack from the fridge and went back to the living room, sitting on the couch to watch TV. She started at the animated screen for a little while, but as she grew more and more awake, she started to notice the empty silence, looking around as though something was off. She turned off the TV.

“Mao Mao?” she called out. She got off the couch and began checking everywhere.

She first checked Mao Mao’s office space, going over to his desk and even checking the holding cell next to it. “Hello? Mao Mao?”

She went downstairs to the garage. “Badgerclops?” She noticed the little plastic tank containing Lucky’s pet spider was sitting on the workbench, making her even more confused as to where the bug’s owner was. After all, that thing was one of the many others that the group was to bring on the trip, but it was left behind. Adorabat questioned if the vacation even started yet. That confusion was further compounded from seeing the aerocycle still being there, sitting inactive in the garage.

She went back up and went to the dojo and even the maintenance room next to the kitchen. “Dad? Chubbum? Kevin? Ketchup? Plippy? Lucky?” When she didn't find anyone she called out the names of, she even circled around and rechecked all the spots she went through just moments before. “Where is everybody?”

Adorabat went right back to the living room, sitting back onto the couch. She thought about what might possibly be the reason for HQ to be empty except for her. That was when she remembered the events of the night before.

“I made the whole group disappear!” she gasped to herself in disbelief. It would have been cause for alarm had she not remembered something else about last night: The stolen and wasted pizza courtesy of Lucky, Mao Mao not punishing Lucky for it, how neither Mao Mao or Badgerclops and even her dad took her gripes seriously…

A grin slowly crept on Adorabat's face. “I made the whole group disappear.”

The day moved forward with a single bat having the holiday party of a lifetime. Once Adorabat realized the freedom she now had to do things that Mao Mao would have normally forbade her, she was practically on an itinerary of her own. First, she was bouncing up and down on Sofia the couch, munching on bag of popcorn plus other snacks belonging to Badgerclops at the same time. Then, she was playing with Mao Mao’s hero equipment and some of the tech down in the basement-garage. After that, she took to flying all around in HQ, yelling “I’M FREE” while she went for every corner. She then capped it off with rapid-fire paint projects in the dojo, especially with the traps deployed and running to spread her flying paints with greater effect.

Once she cooled down and had most of her fun, Adorabat relaxed by going back down to the garage to look through more privately stored parts of the space. She was currently looking on one of the computer monitors on Badgerclops’s work desk, and her eyes were pretty wide at what she was gazing at before nonchalantly moving off to the next interesting thing.

“Why are those ladies crawling like that?” she commented on the pics she saw on Badgerclops’s computer. “It’s gotta hurt your back.” She sifted through a nearby desk drawer for something else she could find, to which she shortly did. “Whoa, firecrackers!” she gasped, “I’ll save those for later.” She took a moment to yell upstairs, for a moment pretending she wasn’t alone in the house. “Badgerclops! I’m going through all your private stuff! You better come down and stop me!” Without waiting for an answer, she resumed her snooping, sifting through another drawer. What she pulled out had her cringing.

The item happened to be a picture frame holding a photo showing Badgerclops smiling next to a sculpture made of beignets, both subjects posed in a sort of manner Adorabat couldn’t quite place. Whatever it was, she certainly couldn’t see herself looking at that every day. “So that’s why you like beignets so much?” she remarked out loud, her face scrunched up in confused disgust, “Yech!” She roughly put down the picture to refocus her eyes on something else.

She finally noticed a particular invention hanging on a wall in another corner of the garage. It looked vaguely similar to Badgerclops’s standard robot arm, but it was thinner and more hollowed out, but even Adorabat could see it looked perfectly functional. She grinned as she knew just what to do with it. She had just grabbed the thing and taken it back upstairs, setting up a bunch of toys at the edge of the hole where the sliding poles stood. She got low to the floor and aimed the arm-like weapon at the toys, pressing a button to fire BB pellets at them. At each toy, she hit them perfectly in one shot, sending them all tumbling down the hole onto the bottom floor of the garage.

Later, Adorabat was back in the lounge area of HQ’s main atrium, reclining herself on the couch with a tub of topping-laden ice cream in her lap while her eyes were on the TV. She had just inserted a disk into the DVD player in the shelf of the table that the TV stood on, one that happened to have a name called **_“Angels with Impure Hearts”_**. From what she knew of that movie, it was one that Badgerclops liked to watch and even got Mao Mao interested in as well, though not as much as the former. But she was sure that both of them would agree to never let her watch it, which made her feel even more smug about her situation. With a spoon in one of her wings, she took a scoop of ice cream to chomp on for herself as she listened to what the two characters on the TV were saying.

***KNOCK KNOCK***

**“Who is it?” – “It’s me, Scales. I got the stuff.” – “Leave it on the doorstep and get out of here.” – “Alright Timmy, but what about my money?” – “What money?” – “Rudy said you had some dough for me.” – “That a fact? How much do I owe you?” – “Rudy said 10%.” – “Too bad Rudy ain’t in charge no more.”**

Adorabat took another moment to tease the absent cat and badger after helping herself to her newest bite of ice cream. “Guys! I’m eating junk food and watching one of your movies on the TV! You better come here and turn it off!” She took another bite without waiting even another second. The two characters talking in the movie continued.

**“What do you mean?” – “He’s upstairs taking a bath. He’ll call you when he gets out…‘Ey, I’ll tell you what I’m gonna give you, Scales.”**

Adorabat watched as one of the two guys in the movie pulled out some kind of energy blaster he held in two hands and pointed it at the other.

**“I’m gonna give you to the count of 10 to get your ugly, yellow, no-good keister off my property before I pump your fluff full’a laser beams.” – “Alright Timmy, I’m sorry. I’m going!” – “One, two, TEN!”**

Adorabat was in full blast of what the TV was showing to her, the guy with the blaster firing rapid shots at the other guy, putting holes in his body in graphic damage and only stopping to watch him fall to the floor. The shooter then resumed shooting, laughing maniacally all the while. That was all Adorabat had to see before she outright covered her eyes with her wings. It wasn’t any less frightening that she could still hear the violence, and when she slightly lifted a wing to peek at the scene, she hid her eyes again at the look of the shot person’s heavily destroyed corpse being shot at some more. She only took her wings off her eyes once she saw the shooter stop shooting and laughing. But it was that last line he said that sealed the deal:

**“Keep the change, ya filthy animal.”**

Adorabat hit the pause on the player and TV with a remote, as she cried out, “MAO MAO!”

* * *

Back on the commercial aero-transport, Mao Mao stirred from his nap, opening his eyes and straightening himself up on his seat which slightly jarred Badgerclops. It was when he began sifting through several things around him that woke Badgerclops up along with getting Eugene’s attention, as the older male bat had just previously been reading a book under a miniature lamp. Both the bat and badger turned to look at the black cat uncomfortably sifting through whatever he got his hands on.

“Hey bud, what’s going on?” Badgerclops asked his friend.

Mao Mao took a couple seconds to finish his little searching before stopping to address Badgerclops’s question. “I don’t know. I just got a really bad feeling, like…we didn’t do something.”

Badgerclops arched an eyebrow at hearing this worry. “Nah, you’re probably feeling that way because we left in a really big hurry.”

Mao Mao paid no mind to Badgerclops’s assuring but somewhat dismissive comment, too preoccupied with what he worriedly had on his mind at the moment. He turned back to the badger. “Did we lock all the doors?”

“Yeah, of course,” Badgerclops said.

“Did I take the gem cell out of the aerocycle to bring with us?”

“No. I did.”

“Did you bring Lucky’s pet spider?”

Badgerclops paused. “That's it. I forgot to bring the spider.” But he turned away to relax on his seat, putting his hands behind his head in a reclining position. “No big deal. It can last a few days,” he sighed.

Mao Mao still remained in unease. “No, that's not it…” He turned his attention to Eugene. “Eugene, can you check something with me?”

“Sure, if that'll help calm you down,” the teal bat said, getting off his seat to accompany the black cat.

Both of them made their way over to the rear cabin where the kids were in their seats, either napping, playing games, or watching shows. Mao Mao scanned left and right of the aisle, going so far as to bend down and sift through the kids’ belongings under their seats, even pick some of them up to turn then over despite their visible displeasure at being interrupted from their activities. Mao Mao went on to start aimlessly pacing when he didn't find the source of his discomfort.

“The kids seem to be fine,” Eugene noted to the sheriff. “I've accounted for everything on the checklist.”

“Still,” Mao Mao calmly disagreed, “I still feel like something's missing. Don't you?”

Eugene pondered for a moment from listening to Mao Mao’s words, taking a glance at the kids himself. “I guess you might be right.” From where he stood, he tallied the kids in their seats. He counted, remembering in his head that the whole group was composed of himself, the sheriffs Mao Mao and Badgerclops, and six kids – his daughter being one of them. Well, no problem with counting the kids again.

As Eugene recounted, Mao Mao was listing every kid’s name while watching the teal bat. He didn't care that Badgerclops was walking up to him from behind, himself having gotten out of his seat to investigate after the black cat’s visible worrying proved infectious. Mao Mao counted in his head: Chubbum, Lucky, Ketchup, Kevin, Plippy…

“Hey guys, you doing a game with the kids?” Badgerclops joked.

“Not now, Badgerclops,” Mao Mao huffed, “I'm checking for something we forgot, and I'm absolutely sure we did!”

Eugene counted: Chubbum, Lucky, Ketchup, Kevin, Plippy…

Badgerclops shrugged his shoulders. “I already know the list and agenda, Mao. What else could we be forgetting?”

Mao Mao thought for a bit to come up with an answer. The whole group left with three adults and six kids. He counted in the cabin Chubbum, Lucky, Ketchup, Kevin, Plippy…

Eugene was sure everyone was accounted for. When everyone was lined up at the aerobus back at the Sheriff’s Department, there was a literal headcount. Five of the kids were counted at the side while the sixth was counted at the back. Quinton was the only other adult Sweetypie there at the time and he was at the back loading the luggage. But then again, only one head was counted at the back…

Both Mao Mao's and Eugene’s eyes slowly widened more and more, their pupils shrinking as they realized the implications of such a conclusion. It culminated in two voices letting loose a scream so loud that every other person on the vessel was given the shock of their lives:

“ADORABAT!!!!!”


	4. Day 2

It was a new morning back at the Sheriff’s Department, and inside, Adorabat was getting ready for another small bout of fun. She was able to get over the shocking movie she only watched last night, surprisingly, but the fresh memory was enough to have the little bat girl mellowed out for the time being.

Today, she opted to go for something simpler. On top of the attic staircase, she sat on a sled, aiming it for the front door which was wide open, showing the front yard outside which was covered in a deep layer of snow. She held on to the sled as it teetered on the edge, and then let it tip forward until it rapidly began its descent down the stairs.

Adorabat let out a long cry of excitement as she experienced the tobogganing of a lifetime. It was one thing to do it on a snow-laden hill as per tradition, but no one ever conceived that the same could be done indoors on stairs and through a door so far, all except for her. As soon as the sled she rode on cleared the stairs, she directed it right between the couch and TV (she had previously moved the coffee table beforehand) and then streaked out the door. She flew in an arc over the porch steps and made a graceful landing on the snow below, going for a few more inches until she stopped short of the bushes.

Adorabat got off the sled and grabbed it before making her way back to the house to do it all again. For her, it really was fun, more so with the fact that she pioneered this new tobogganing experience.

* * *

Back on the public aero-transport vessel, something almost akin to a crime scene was happening in one of the cabins. The kids were out of their seats and with Badgerclops, standing around Mao Mao and Eugene collapsed on the carpeted aisle floor. Badgerclops only looked at his friend and Adorabat’s father for so long when a stewardess on the vessel approached him.

“The captain’s doing all he can, but we still can’t get a connection to your phone line,” the stewardess reported. The badger only gave a nod before turning his attention back to the two adults on the floor at his feet. Mao Mao was lying on his back, eyes open in a catatonic state. Eugene just stuck to sitting with his back against a nearby seat, his wings clasped over his head as he sweated and hyperventilated from the pressure of the sudden realization.

“ _How could I do this?_ ” Mao Mao whispered tremblingly, speaking to no one but himself. “ _We forgot Adorabat._ ”

Badgerclops got right to trying to play the comforting reassurer. “Easy, Mao. We didn’t forget her. We just miscounted.”

His words didn’t quite seem to reach Eugene’s ears. “ _What kind of father am I?_ ”

“Well, if it makes you feel better,” Badgerclops made a second attempt to salvage the cat’s and bat’s emotions, “I forgot to bring the aerocycle.” All he got from saying that was a confused look from Eugene and a piercingly emotionless death glare from Mao Mao, who was still lying on his back.

* * *

Back in Pure Heart Valley, it was nightfall. The Sweetypies in town had just settled back in their homes to get warm and cozy, as the sun had went down and thus the winter environment for a whole lot colder. It should be expected that no one would be outside at this hour, but it wasn't the case. Hidden at the edge of the forest, two individuals – a fox and raccoon – stood in the snow and peered around a couple tree trunks, scoping out the Sheriff’s Department HQ just meters away.

“This is it, Reg,” the fox whispered to his shorter raccoon partner. “Can you feel the anticipation?”

The raccoon called Reg looked a little giddy. “Oh yeah, I do. What about this are we feeling?”

The fox looked at HQ in his own state of gleeful contemplation. “Why, we’re going to be doing our first burglary in this valley, going to every house for loot…but what better house to start with than the home of that blasted sheriff?” He narrowed his eyes and let out a devious quiet chuckle. “Now that sheriff truly will pay.”

Reg the raccoon then looked a little worried. “But you sure you wanna be doing this while he's home, Rufus?”

“Reggie!” the fox called Rufus hissed. “Just so you know, the sheriff and his deputies are away on vacation, from what I heard. This is the perfect opportunity to give him the scam of a lifetime! We can always rob the other houses, but first, we're going to take every last thing from his precious little home! Then he'll learn to never mess with us again!”

Reggie, as the raccoon was truly called, nodded slowly and allowed a smile of realization to creep on his face. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. Let's get it then!”

“Right, we will,” Rufus affirmed in his signature sultry drawl. He and Reggie came out of hiding to begin their sneaking towards the house.

* * *

Inside HQ, Adorabat had apparently dozed off on the chair behind Mao Mao’s desk, having picked an alternate place to nap apart from the couch. From the fact that the darkness of the main atrium was faintly aglow with the TV being on and playing, Adorabat was once again occupying her evening with another movie. Though this time, she chose to play something a little more kid-friendly this time around. There were still snacks scattered all over the couch, but they weren’t as messy as yesterday’s ice cream. It was mostly just popcorn, chips, and other dry snacks courtesy of raiding Badgerclops’s stash.

Adorabat continued to lay curled on Mao Mao’s chair, slumbering away with the hope she could see her hero in her dreams, but the faint sounds of clattering on wood quietly jolted her awake. She carefully peeked over the desk to spot a shadow behind the top screen of the front door. It was silhouetted, and Adorabat hoped it was Mao Mao or Badgerclops or even her dad. But it was when she heard a voice that was decidedly none of those three that turned on the alarms inside her.

Outside on the porch, Reggie was trying hard to pry the front double-doors open, but struggled to do it successfully. He quickly have up to no fruitful results. “Man, it’s locked really tight!” he whispered.

“Let's try another door,” Rufus suggested, signaling the raccoon to follow him over to the duo's right side, which was in the direction of the house's kitchen side.

Adorabat gasped, getting off the chair and staying low to the ground, following the two silhouettes outside to the kitchen. As she did so, she flipped on every light switch she could find and when she got to the kitchen, switched on that room’s light as Rufus and Reggie got ready to try and open its neighboring outside door.

Reggie was surprised at the suddenness of seeing a light turning on, along with the fact that his friend seemed to be wrong. “What? Rufus, I thought you said they were gone.”

Rufus was equally and mutually confounded. “I thought they were too. Let’s get out of here.” With a beckoning hand, Rufus turned away and led Reggie with him away from the house, opting to come back at a later time.

At the same time, Adorabat was huddled against the bottom of a cabinet in the kitchen, pressed clear of the window facing the front yard of the house. She stayed quiet and only went up to take a peek once she was sure that the intruders were gone. She normally would have confronted the baddies head-on, but whenever that was the case, it was only when Mao Mao and Badgerclops were around, and right now, they weren't. Knowing the cat, badger, and the rest of the group were far enough away that they were effectively out of the valley made her feel even more uncertain. If she tried anything and it went wrong, there would be no one to help her out.

Adorabat wondered who those two were anyway, since it was dark outside and she didn't take the time to get a closer look.


	5. Chapter 5

It took some time, but at last, the aero-transport carrying the sheriff's group had finally landed in Lunarton City.

As though if it were no different from the rush back in Pure Heart Valley, Mao Mao was already dashing past the entry gate and towards the nearest public area in the aeroport, looking for the first available phone. Eugene was flying right behind him, following closely for the same reason as the sheriff was. Badgerclops was struggling to keep up with the former two's mad dash, considering he wasn't a runner and he was carrying the other five Sweetypie kids under one arm. By the time Mao Mao and Eugene did find a phone, he was panting and gasping for air.

The phone Mao Mao and Eugene approached happened to already be occupied by another user who was in the middle of their own conversation with whoever they were talking to. At the very least, Eugene's and Mao Mao's approach got their attention, making them turn to face the two.

“Excuse us, but we really need to use the phone…” Eugene hurriedly but politely told the other person. But before things could go any further, aside from the stranger’s brief confused expression, Mao Mao radically had a different approach.

“Just hand over the phone!” the black cat crowed loud enough for other people around him and his group to hear, snatching the phone’s receiver from the stranger’s hand. Mao Mao's unbridled aggression was enough to make the person back away and run, unwilling to escalate things further. Once Mao Mao had the phone, he wasted no time getting right to talking. “Hello? Hello, hello?” he enunciated more normally into the receiver, “I have an emergency! It's –” He paused when he heard the unfamiliar voice speaking gibberish to him, making him change his course of action. “Sorry, they'll have to call you back,” he finished just as rapidly and hung up. “Here, Eugene,” he told the older bat, handing him a coin for him to put into the phone. Mao Mao then spun over to Badgerclops, tossing him a little pocketbook filled with written contact info. “Badgerclops, get right to calling everyone in Pure Heart Valley! Call up as many houses as you can!” Badgerclops got right to dialing the numbers on his robot arm.

* * *

Adorabat was still in the kitchen, peeking out the window from just under the countertop.

“This is ridiculous,” she complained to herself. “What am I doing hiding like this? I fight monsters and other bad guys every day. Only a wimp would be hiding from burglars, and I’m not a wimp.” She puffed up her chest and took on a stern expression. “I’m the sheriff of the house!”

Adorabat immediately went back to the front door and slid it open to march out (after closing it behind her). She would have flown, but she opted to just tread on the layered snow. It may have been deep, but she was light enough to walk on the surface without sinking down to her ears.

“Hey!” she yelled, “I’m not afraid of you!” She looked left and right for whoever tried to invade the house earlier, hoping they would come out in response to her voice. No such response came.

Adorabat tried again. “Hey jerks! I said I’m not afraid of you!” No one showed in her line of sight.

Adorabat tried being even louder. “You hear me? I said I’m not scared of you! Come out and face me, you big dummies!”

 ***CRUNCH*** Right on cue, a massive shadowy figure landed right on the snow from above, like he had just jumped from a tree. The meteoric landing was powerful enough to disperse the snow around him like they were just clouds.

Adorabat widened her eyes, staring right up at the figure’s head to face who she thought would not show up any time in the winter. Even in the darkness of the night sky, she could still recognize the guy’s face, even if it were just an outline.

“Orangusnake!?” she cried, blatantly ignoring the scarf around the Sky Pirate’s neck.

“You! Brat!” Orangusnake similarly yelled with a hiss. Unfortunately for him, Adorabat was right on him, screeching as she started diving for his face and even tried to blind him with his own scarf. “Get off me!” he tried to swat her away with his big orangutan-arms. “I’m not doing anything evil tonight!” He didn’t get a lot of time to respond once he pulled his scarf back down from his face as he was then savagely pelted at with snowballs.

“Don’t you lie, filthy criminal!” Adorabat yelled as she loaded up another wad of snow. As she prepared to throw it, she told him straight up, “Back to the pit from where you came!” She threw her snowball only for Orangusnake to block it with his arms.

“Oh, now you’re gonna get it,” the Sky Pirate growled. He reached behind his back to grab his energy-axe, but stopped short of doing that upon realizing how hard he was shivering. As if to complicate things further, his nose twitched and smelled something in the air, making him drool a little. He turned back to Adorabat who looked ready to fly at his head again. He managed to stop her with his words alone, narrowing his eyes at her with a glare. “You’re lucky it’s the cold season!” he said to her through softly chattering teeth. “Next time, I won’t be so cheerful!”

Before Adorabat could go any further, Orangusnake dashed to the edge of the cliff the house stood on, taking the part of the landing furthest away from said house, jumping off and activating his energy-axe to jam into the rocky face to slow his descent. When things got quiet again, Adorabat went over to investigate.

Adorabat momentarily wondered where he could have went. “ _I wonder if he’s okay_ ,” she thought before flying back to the house, briefly noticing the lights in the town area down below in the distance. She’d check that out tomorrow.

* * *

Back in the Lunarton City aeroport, Mao Mao had just finished giving the Sweetypie operator a piece of his mind over the phone. Once there was a connection, Eugene had politely tried over and over to ask the operator to send a person over to the Sheriff’s Department HQ to check on Adorabat, whom they had left behind. But after several minutes of being redirected to other services, Mao Mao thought it best to try his way after asking Eugene to lend the receiver to him. It culminated in the black cat dishing out his assorted loud and direct demands at the Sweetypie listening over the phone, though he only got a little further than Eugene at that point. As for Badgerclops, all he got from the houses he called were clueless residents oblivious to the situation.

So the group had to stop by at another desk in the aeroport, asking for any assistance on getting a flight back to Pure Heart Valley.

“I’m sorry, sir, but every immediate flight to Pure Heart Valley’s been booked,” the aeroport assistant notified Mao Mao reluctantly.

Mao Mao was pretty much pinching the bridge of his nose between his eyes at hearing this. “Well, can’t you do something, like bump someone off or ask somebody?”

“I’m sorry sir, but I can’t do that.”

By that time, Eugene had made his way to Mao Mao’s side, followed by Badgerclops who caught up behind him. “Any return flights to take?” the bat asked the cat.

Mao Mao shook his head, appearing to look even more irate than he usually was. “No, of course not! Turns out there are no seats left!” He pointed to the desk assistant as he continued. “This person says here that the next available flight’s two days away!”

“Two days?” Eugene seemed mutually frantic, his face paling in heart-stopping fright. “I can’t wait that long! Who knows what’s happening to Adorabat right now!”

“Well, to be fair, she’s better at taking care of herself than you think,” Badgerclops butted in, but backtracked once he was immediately confronted with the displeasured gazes of Mao Mao and Eugene, feeling more uncomfortable with the former more than the latter. “But…” he backtracked, “if there’s no other flights available, why not make the best of what we got here until that flight?”

“Out of the question,” Mao Mao refused, waving a hand for emphasis. “Eugene has a point that we don’t know what’s going on back home right now. I’m not leaving here unless it’s on an aero-craft!”

The assistant stepped in. “We’re doing all we can right now. If you want to stay in the aeroport, we can keep you on standby and there may be a possibility of a seat opening up. As far as I know, that’s your best shot.”

Mao Mao thought about that recommendation, and then slowly nodded with a smile as he thought it to be a much better idea than just playing the waiting game. “That’s fine with me,” he affirmed to the desk assistant. To his surprise, or rather not at all, Eugene also stepped in.

“I’ll take that offer too,” the bespectacled bat chimed in. When Mao Mao looked at him as though he wanted to know why he was involving himself, Eugene got right to filling him in. “I know you’re concerned about Adorabat, but I’m still her dad, so I should be making the effort to come back to her too.” He made sure to make his last point clear when he thought Mao Mao was going to object. “I’m going.”

Mao Mao paused, wanting to say something but stopped short of just opening his mouth and holding up a finger. As he caught his breath in his throat, he understood Eugene’s final decision at once. “Okay then. Let’s do it.”

Once that plan had been arranged, it was time for Badgerclops to keep the kids company, however much to his dismay it was for him. At the very least, there was consolation with knowing that he still got to enjoy a bit of the sights, even with the kids in tow. Before leaving the aeroport with the kids, he shared one last little talk with Mao Mao and Eugene. “You sure about this, guys? You can still get a bit of a vacation here for now, you know.”

“Our decision’s final,” Mao Mao asserted once again, “we won’t rest and consider a vacation until we know Adorabat’s safe and sound…or at least until we can get a signal…”

Badgerclops couldn’t help letting out a little snicker at that. “Okay then, if you say so.” He prepared to turn away to leave the airport with the kids, waving goodbye at the two of them. “Don’t you get lost now.”

Eugene stifled an amused giggle while Mao Mao shook his head with a faintly bemused smile as they both also gave their farewells.


	6. Day 3

It was another new morning in Pure Heart Valley, and Adorabat had just settled into a somewhat new and different morning ritual for herself, considering her circumstances. She was in the bathroom, standing in front of the smallest sink which was designed just for her. She was combing the fur on her head while looking in the mirror in front of her.

“I took a shower today using that special dew-flower shampoo from Mao Mao’s soap shelf and made sure to wash every body part, including all the edges of my wings and in my ears, which I haven’t really done before but sorta liked,” she said to no one but herself, simply giving herself a voice to listen to as she organized the start of her day. She then turned over to grab a moderately sized spray can, one that may only be the size of Mao Mao’s and Badgerclops’s palm but half a whole wing for her. “I’m using adult-formula cream deodorant for that chocolatey-scented shine.” She then grabbed another bottle to sprinkle a few drops of what she didn’t know was aftershave onto one wing, then rubbing it together with both wings. “I can’t seem to find my toothbrush, so I’ll pick one up when I go out today. Other than that, I’m in good shape.” Once she lathered enough of the substance on her wings, she then clasped them onto her cheeks for a rub, but she never got to do any rubbing upon feeling that immediate sensation.

All across the house, a long-drawn-out scream of sensitive pain reverberated off every wall.

* * *

Fortunately, that episode was over, and Adorabat was able to move on to her next task of the day. Adorabat figured that if she wanted a new toothbrush for herself, she would have to go down to town to shop for it. But first, she needed money.

Flying down to the basement-garage, Adorabat looked around the part of the room that was Badgerclops’s designated workspace, checking every shelf on the wall for anything she overlooked before. Her eyes eventually settled on an innocuous tin box that sat ever so diagonally on the topmost shelf, hanging just above the workbench with the little plastic tank containing Lucky’s pet spider. That was what she was aiming for. With a brief flapping of her wings, Adorabat flew straight up and perched herself onto the shelf.

It would have been very simple to just walk across the shelf and open the box, or at least, take it down…but she didn’t expect the shelf to be thinner and flimsier than she would have speculated. A creak, crack, and a full-on snap was all Adorabat heard before the shelf she stood on split in half, sending her and every object on it sliding off and falling onto the workbench and floor with a clattering crash, drowning out her yells of surprise.

When the scene was finally over, Adorabat dug herself out of the trashed pile of stuff. She went back to the pile to sift through it and fish out the tin box she had been after in the beginning. Opening the box, she smiled in approval of the paper money she saw in it. “Perfect,” she attended to herself while grabbing all the wads of bills, “Badgerclops’s emergency savings.” Now that she had what she came for, the bat flew back up to ground floor to get ready to leave.

Out of the pile of junk, a lone spider crawled out and made its way for the stairs.

After leaving HQ, Adorabat had to fly so the way to town, since she couldn't use the aerocycle. As she made her way into the more populated area, she passed by one of the houses belonging to one of the Sweetypies she knew. She thought something was off from the way the indoor lights were on and shining out through an outside window, so she landed for a brief inspection.

“Didn't Slim Pigguns leave for Meadow Hills?” she wondered out loud, but then shrugged her shoulders and walked off. It's not like she cared if Slim was away or not. That Sweetypie was just as unpredictable as Pinky most of the time.

* * *

Inside Slim's house, there were two occupants who were decidedly not the owners. In fact, it was none other than the fox and raccoon from last night, the former special men Rufus and Reggie. Reggie was giggling to himself as he occupied himself with roughly knocking items off a shelf and into a sack, paying no attention to the clattering that sounded as the items fell into the bag. Rufus was busying himself with another corner of the house on which he raided precious items from, but he was more meticulous and delicate in his action. He didn't look particularly pleased with Reggie’s lack of discreetness.

“You know, you’re really the burglary expert at the moment,” Rufus remarked sarcastically, “Could you maybe keep it down?”

Reggie gave what was the equivalent of a backhanded acknowledgement when he was interrupted by the ringing of a telephone. The phone rang for a bit and then transitioned to an automated recording asking for the caller to leave a message. It was when the raccoon heard the caller's voice that it got truly interesting.

 _“Hey dude or dudette,”_ came the voice of none other than Badgerclops, _“Just calling to give you a heads-up on an emergency. Just call me at…”_

Reggie called to Rufus. “Hey Rufus? Did you say that the Sheriff’s Department was supposed to be away on vacation?”

“Yes,” Rufus answered with a tone of disappointment, considering where he and Reggie were last night. “What of it?”

Reggie looked eager and happy to report. “You were right. They are gone!”

Rufus smirked. “Of course I am.” He looked out another window to observe the HQ that stood far in the distance atop the mountain cliff.


	7. Chapter 7

Once she finally made it to the heart of town, Adorabat finally understood the lively lights that decorated the area from what she saw of it last night. The remaining Sweetypies who were staying home in the valley for the holiday had set up all manners of Snowfest-themed decorations, a number going across the streets, on the outside of every surrounding building, and even inside those buildings. It wasn't surprising at all, but it was still just as pretty to look at.

Adorabat was currently in one of the valley's shops, going to the front counter when she had just gotten a toothbrush. She had to get there by flying herself, as the aerocycle was evidently without the gem cell to put it, rendering it unusable. She wondered if it was stolen by the Sky Pirates, but pushed the thought aside as she didn't remember seeing any of them apart from Orangusnake last night. At that point in time, it was her first time being away from the house since everyone there vanished.

The adult Sweetypie working the counter and cash register looked a little confused when seeing Adorabat alone approaching. After all, this was a child supervised by no grownups. Even with Adorabat being a member of the Sheriff’s Department, it still applied, though no one would say that in front of the assertive bat.

“How can I help you, little miss?” the cashier asked Adorabat.

Adorabat held up her toothbrush. “I'm just getting one toothbrush to go, please.”

The cashier took the toothbrush from Adorabat and got right to calculating the cost on the register. Once the typing was done, the cashier started the price to Adorabat, who went on to hand over a bill. But it was when she just received her change that she noticed a dark-skinned hand belonging to a suspicious orange-furred simian arm bring placed on the counter next to her. Her eyes widened, causing her to slowly turn and look up at the owner of the hand and arm. She was face to face with none other than Orangusnake once again.

“You!!” she screeched loud enough to startled both the Sky Pirate and everyone else in the store, pointing a wing at him. “Back for more!?”

Orangusnake jumped back upon realizing he was facing the same little bat again. “Not again! Is stalking me all you do these days!?” he hissed in reply. He drew out his weapon to activate his holo-axe. “I was easy on you last night, but you pushed your luck today!” With a spin of his axe, he dashed at Adorabat. Although he missed her, his blade sliced off a section of a neighboring aisle shelf. “Where are your other sheriff buddies?”

“Why's that matter, you jerk?” Adorabat screeched defiantly, not wanting to entertain the pirate's inquiries for a second. She grabbed a nearby piece of merchandise and flew up to swing it at the pirate's face.

Orangusnake defended himself against that attack, prompting Adorabat to grab more items and throw them at him, ignoring the cries of mortification from the cashier and other employees of the store. “Look who's talking, jerk!” he loudly retorted. “I'm not letting you ruin my shopping trip!”

Orangusnake batted away and sliced apart the items thrown his way while Adorabat sideswiped him to land in strikes with more solid store objects, prompting even more cries from the staff. The chaos from this back-and-forth exchange continued until the two crashed out of the store through the front wall, scattering debris and mercantile items across the street.

Both the bat and pirate panted heavily as they faced each other in a standstill, with even faint beads of sweat forming on their brows. Orangusnake caught his breath first. “So, you’re really here out on your own, huh?”

Adorabat didn't say anything back, opting to just glare at the pirate with the fiercest bared fangs she could display. “I can beat you up just fine by myself!”

Orangusnake only grinned mockingly, not enough that he had a plan but looked more like he was reacting to something ironic. “Heh. So you are all by yourself…Why's that? Mao Mao and Badgerclops got sick of you and needed some time away?”

Adorabat flinched slightly, the sound of Orangusnake’s suggestion feeling somewhat hurtful. They just forgot her, right? It's not like they left her behind on purpose. It just couldn't be the case. “This is my chance to do anything without their help! Don't think you can win because I'm little!”

“Oh please,” Orangusnake laughed, gesturing with a hand. “You didn't even knock me off my feet. You call that a real fight?”

Adorabat wasn’t taking any more of the pirate’s jabs. “You be quiet, filthy criminal! You’re all alone too, you know!” she retorted. “What do you think you're doing stealing from Sweetypies during Snowfest season anyway?”

The question, at the very least, wiped the grin off Orangusnake’s face. “Stealing? What are you talking about? I told you I'm not doing anything evil! You just ruined my shopping trip!”

“Don't lie!” Adorabat yelled back in mutual defiance. “You were trying to take rolls of blankets from that shop! You don't need extra blankets for your cape!”

“Actually,” both were interrupted by the damaged store’s cashier coming outside to talk with them, then pointing to Orangusnake, “he was here to pick up those blankets. He was so nice when he helped us set up the mini-trees in the junkyard.”

Adorabat's eyes widened at hearing that bombshell, while Orangusnake lifted his chin up proudly at the affirmation, even crossing his arms for emphasis as a means to rub that refutation in Adorabat's face. “But…” she stammered, “he's a pirate! He tried to steal the Ruby Pure Heart! He can't be trusted!”

The Sweetypie huffed. “Nonsense! He's been nothing but polite and helpful this whole time! You're the one who bothered him and ruined his shopping trip! Shame on you!” The Sweetypie turned to lift a rolled blanket to Orangusnake who took it in his hands.

Adorabat got ready to yell something again, but noticed the other Sweetypies in the street looking at her with disapproving eyes. And if that wasn't embarrassing enough, she noticed Orangusnake turning his head to her and sticking out his tongue, making what sounded like a combination between a hiss and a blown raspberry. Seeing no way she could prove the pirate was up to no good without making herself look bad, Adorabat could do nothing else except take her toothbrush and fly off.


	8. Chapter 8

Meanwhile at another house, Reggie had just finished up with the last of the looting. Just before leaving, he made sure to turn on the taps of a nearby kitchen sink, snickering all the while. He excited the house and got into the aerotruck where Rufus waited in the driver's seat. Rufus turned to notice the strangely mischievous behavior Reggie was displaying. “Reg, what's so funny?”

Reggie didn't say anything, but maintained his wide grin. Somehow, that told Rufus enough of what he needed to know. “You did it again, did you? What's the matter with you?”

“It’s a way to bother the sheriff when he gets back,” Reggie explained himself innocently while Rufus started the engine. “What better way to get back at him than give him work right after his vacation?”

Rufus mused on Reggie's justification as he maneuvered the aerotruck while it flew up high and above in the air. “Hmm, I suppose that would work. Give him an extra report to write up, extra complaints from Sweetypies to listen to…but it still doesn't feel quite enough to make him pay.”

As Rufus was deep in his thoughts and Reggie occupied himself with examining the treasures he and his partner recently raided, neither noticed a little blue bat flying perpendicular of their path.

Adorabat was flying on her own, lost in her own thoughts about her recent filter attempt to bust Orangusnake. She couldn't understand how her own people would think he'd be nice when he's already shown himself to be anything but. He was a pirate. He couldn't be trusted. If he was being nice, he was pretending. Yes, that's exactly what it is. No doubt about it. She's right and everyone’s wrong.

Neither Rufus and Reggie or Adorabat noticed themselves gradually heading into each other's paths. It only took Reggie moving his eyes up just for a second for him to yell to Rufus. “Whoa, hey! Rufus, stop!”

Rufus heard his partner’s voice in a timely manner, turning his attention back ahead of the aerotruck and stomping on the brakes. Even though the vehicle was in the air, it somehow made a skidding sound as it came to a stop, while at the same time, Adorabat noticed the aerotruck in time to see it coming for her at a speed high enough to make her scream. Luckily for her, the truck stopped just inches from her nose, at the very least not shocking her enough to make her stop flapping her wings which kept her in the sky. Rufus and Reggie, on the other hand, looked both visibly relieved and exhausted over having just avoided a mid-air collision.

Adorabat didn’t want to stay any longer, so she got ready to fly away and keep going until she reached home. But she was stopped by a voice calling to her from behind. “Hey! You there!”

Somehow, the sound of the voice was what made her stop in her tracks, freezing as her brain instantly registered a feeling similar to recognition. She slowly turned her head to let a corner of her eye take a look at the man who called her, not wanting to show her whole face. From what she could make of what she saw in the corner of her eye, the sight was strikingly familiar.

Fortunately, the two men weren't quite as quick. “You need to watch where you're going,” Rufus said to the flying bat child in front of him.

Adorabat thought it best to play along. “Sorry.”

Rufus noticed Reggie scooting just over him to get his head closer to the driver's window. He wanted to say something to Adorabat as well. “The Gift-Saint don't visit the funeral home, kiddo,” Reggie politely told her.

Adorabat couldn't help but give a little smile at how warmly humorous that statement was, even if she did turn her head to the truck a little bit more.

Rufus thought it best to just let it go and not further complicate the situation unnecessarily. He put on his signature gentlemanly face and posture, the kind that he had not used since last leaving Pure Heart Valley, and gave his own parting greeting. “Have a Happy Snowfest.”

The low calm tone was the deal breaker for Adorabat, the powerfully and inevitably instant recognition overriding whatever cautiousness she had, driving her to turn and face the speaker completely. One look was all it took for her to conclude that her intuition was correct all along. It was Rufus, and the raccoon sitting next to him was Reggie. Adorabat turned away and flew, being careful as she wanted to put distance between herself and the two former 'special men’.

On the other hand, Rufus’s curt and jovial display diminished into that of suspicion as he continued to observe the little blue bat.

Reggie noticed his friend’s behavior. “Hey Rufus, something the matter?”

Rufus didn't turn his eyes from Adorabat for another moment. “That child looks familiar, and I don't like the way she looked at me.”

“You see that kid before?”

“I’ve seen countless children for months on end. But I’m sure this one left a rather strong impression.” Rufus drove the aerotruck to follow Adorabat.

Adorabat heard the vehicle coming from behind her, making her look back. Rufus stopped the vehicle, him along with Reggie pretending to be busy with something else, looking in other directions away from her.

Adorabat wasn’t waiting up. She flew downwards, heading back in the direction of town.

“Huh? She's trying to fly away from us!” Reggie began sounding suspicious himself. “Why would she do that?”

That made Rufus even more determined. “See? I told you there was something off about that child! Don't you remember her?”

Adorabat flew faster and harder, not looking back once as she scanned the town below to look for a place to hide. When she decided on a hiding place, she did a nosedive for that spot. At the same time, Rufus and Reggie stopped to hover just over Town Square, looking left and right out their own windows to scan for Adorabat. They saw that the whole area was fully decorated, but no sign of the blue bat.

“Maybe she went into an alley,” Reggie guessed out loud.

“Who knows where she is?” Rufus muttered. “Let's get out of here.” Without further delay, he put the pedal to the metal and drove the aerotruck back into the air and away from town.

Unknown to either one of them, Adorabat was safely hidden in Town Square the whole time. Sensing the coast was clear, she crawled out from the branches of the towering evergreen pine tree that stood in the center of the plaza. Lifting away some of the decorations that hung on the tree, she observed the sky to find no trace of the suspicious aerotruck. Adorabat took off back into the air to head back to HQ.

“If those guys come back,” she asserted to herself, “I'll be ready for them!”

* * *

Nightfall came upon Pure Heart Valley once again. Rufus and Reggie stealthily navigated their aerotruck to the farthest edge of the front yard of Sheriff’s Department HQ, landing gently on the snow to avoid making any extra noise.

But it was to the confusion of both of them when they saw that all the front windows of the house were completely lit. Even more, they could clearly make out moving shadows behind the windows, which were obscured with closed curtains. They were sure they spotted the large figure of Badgerclops and the memorable pointy-eared silhouette of the sheriff Mao Mao, but were surprised to see other shadows surrounding the former two. Judging from how small they were, it had to be other Sweetypies.

Neither Rufus or Reggie could shake off the dumbfounded looks on their faces, being at a loss regarding how they could be wrong about the Sheriff’s Department not being home at all, let alone having other people over.

“Maybe they came back?” Reggie suggested.

“After half a week?” Rufus scoffed. He tried to concentrate and focus his eyesight on every one of the shadows in every illuminated window, trying to make sense of it all.

Inside the house on the other side of the walls, a radically different scene was playing out. Right in front of the curtained windows, life-sized dummies were tilting left and right on automated devices, cardboard cutouts were moving around the living room on either a toy train or several roombas. Standing on a rafter, Adorabat pulled several sets of strings that were attached to a few more dummies, making them move as well. Whatever contraptions she put together looked simple in the eyes of an adult, but for a small child like her, it was already a complex feat.

Outside, Rufus and Reggie continued to try and make sense of the silhouetted spectacle, but it still remained ever so convincing. “We’ll come back tomorrow,” Rufus told Reggie in his own calculating manner. “Maybe by then, they will be gone.”

“I sure hope so,” Reggie concurred quietly with a slow bobbing nod of his head, even while he still observed the silhouettes.

Rufus started up the engine again. “Let's just get out of here before we’re spotted.” With that, the aerotruck returned to the air and sped away.

Once the two were completely gone, Adorabat stopped what she was doing to go to a window. Lifting part of the curtain, she looked out to see the aerotruck in the distance. She smiled at the success of her disguise.


	9. Chapter 9

It was a night-filled evening back on the streets of Lunarton City. In a suite in a moderately fancy hotel, the five Sweetypie children milled about, mostly switching between looking out the windows and fiddling with some of the decorations lying around the suite. The TV was on and playing some random channel for background noise.

“Hey kiddos, who's up for a tasty jumbo shrimp platter?” Badgerclops announced with his custom showman's voice. In one of his hands was a shiny metal plate that held a sort of exquisite appetizer, being obviously shrimp decorated with green leaves and surrounding a single cup of red dipping sauce. The kids stopped what they were doing to swarm around him, already getting ready to clamber on him for a share.

“Whoa! Whoa, hey!” he tried to keep all of them back, “one at a time!” He managed to gently push the kids back down as they stood around him in an orderly manner. Badgerclops lowered the platter until it was at a reachable level for the kids, to which the kids reached over to grab shrimp in no time at all.

It did, however, prove to be a disappointment. There were only five shrimp on the platter overall, with the rest of the plate being completely empty and the central sauce cup having less than a millimeter of sauce left in it. Each of the kids got only one shrimp and could only dress theirs in just a droplet of sauce.

“Excuse me, but where’s the rest of the shrimp?” Kevin asked.

Badgerclops didn't look at him. Instead, he innocently started in some other direction, wiping his mouth with his free hand. “Well,” he coughed insincerely, “the hotel was kinda low on shrimp recently. This was all they gave me. Honest.” The kids just gave him a deflated look before turning away to resume their activities, making an effort to enjoy their shrimps anyhow.

Badgerclops lifted and activated his mechanical arm to tap into available phone lines, trying to make an effort to call for some help regarding Adorabat. It took a bunch of hello-ing and repeating of his request to the place’s local operators, mostly in part to lack of context on some instances and a language barrier in another. Granted, he expressed more patience in his calls than Mao Mao, but could only clarify himself for so long that he couldn't help letting a yell of his own.

“Hello!? I'm calling to get info on our deputy!” was more or less his blowup. Even if he did last longer than Mao Mao (he wasn't sure how he compared with Eugene), the pressure came down harder once he caved. It led to him feeling like sobbing. “Why are you making this so difficult!?”

Back in the lounge area of the suite, the kids soon felt like talking about the situation themselves.

“This is so pointless!” Ketchup huffed as she let herself drop on the couch.

“What do you mean?” Chubbum asked in response to the cynical statement.

“We're just sitting around in this hotel! The grownups are too busy wondering what's happening to Adorabat! We haven't gone anywhere since we left the airport!” Ketchup sighed. “This is not the vacation I wanted.”

“Well, I just hope my pet spider’s okay,” Lucky sighed. “How could I leave my little friend behind?”

“This isn't about your spider, Lucky!” Ketchup reprimanded with her hands on her hips.

“I'm pretty sure Adorabat’s okay,” Chubbum tried to be optimistic. “I mean, she always talks about how tough she is and how she can take care of herself.”

Ketchup wasn’t assured. “But still…she's small just like us. We don't know what's happening back home.” She noticed Badgerclops coming around the corner, letting out a frustrated growl-sigh before letting himself drop down on the couch. The badger tried to wind down with a bit of TV-watching. Ketchup approached him. “Um, Mr. Badgerclops? Is Adorabat going to be okay?”

Badgerclops didn't have a clear idea about how to answer that question. But it was too much trouble to expect the worst, not to mention it being a lack of confidence in his little deputy. “I think she'll manage.”

Ketchup didn't understand what that meant. “You know if Adorabat is fine? Aren't you worried about her?”

Badgerclops tried hard to control and repress the returning frustration. “Well, her being alone is a little worrying, but I know she can make it. Mao Mao’s on his way back.”

But Ketchup wasn't out of questions yet. “You don't think anything’s gonna happen to Adorabat at all?”

Badgerclops couldn't take much more of the child’s badgering. He repositioned himself on the sofa to look directly at Ketchup, along with making sure the rest of the kids had their eyes on him too. “No, nothing's gonna happen to her, and here’s why,” he stated, using the fingers on his hands to count with emphasis, “One, she loves looking for challenges. Two, our house has smoke detectors and a surveillance system. And three, it's the winter season, where monsters are busy sleeping, meaning that nothing dangerous or exciting will ever happen at this time. Period.”

* * *

Later at night, a lone pizza delivery guy was riding the stair-like elevator up the cliff face, arriving at the top directly facing the front of Sheriff’s Department HQ. He stepped through the moderately deep snow until he made it to the front porch, stepping up onto it and arriving at the front door. When he was close enough, he noticed a paper note attached to the door. Looking at it, it said to drop off the delivery at the side door. Judging by the drawn arrow, the delivery guy was directed to the door next to the waterwheel, the one that directly led into the house’s kitchen area. Once he made it over there, he knocked.

**“Who is it?”**

The delivery guy wasn’t sure about the gruff voice answering behind the door, but formalities were still in order. “I’m the delivery guy for your pizza. Your pizza’s here.”

**“Leave it on the doorstep and get out of here.”**

The delivery guy recoiled at the rude response, placing the pizza box down in front of the kitchen door’s smaller doggy-door. He would have left immediately out of indignation if it weren’t for one loose end. “Alright. But first, money please.”

Inside the kitchen, Adorabat used the remote to unpause “ ** _Angels with Impure Hearts_** ”, which was playing on the TV next door, the volume set to the max. **“What money?”**

The delivery guy was a little bewildered at hearing such a question, which soon planted a seed of frustration. “Money for the pizza, man. It’s how it works. Pizza has a price and you pay for your order.”

Adorabat hit the remote again. **“That a fact? How much do I owe you?”**

Hearing the ‘man’ behind the door get with the program made the delivery guy lighten up a bit. “$11.80.”

As if on cue, Adorabat quickly and quietly slipped a bundle of bills and coins through the doggy door and onto the pizza box. She listened by the door and waited for the delivery guy to pick up the money and leave.

When the guy did pick it up, he took a few seconds to count the amount in his hands, making sure it was the exact same as what he had stated. “Thanks,” he said once he concluded that the exact payment was made.

Adorabat decided she waited long enough, fast-forwarding and playing the TV at the part where it sounded, **“Keep the change, ya’ filthy animal.”**

The delivery guy had enough of the gruff rude voice. Pocketing the pay, he turned to begin trudging back to the entrance. He couldn’t help but get back at the voice with by muttering “ _Cheapskate_ ” under his breath.

Adorabat rewound the film on the TV and played it. **“I’m gonna give you to the count of 10 to get your ugly, yellow, no-good keister off my property before I pump your fluff full’a laser beams!”**

The delivery guy gasped and widened his eyes at hearing the looming threat issued to him, backing away and turning to flee in increasing speed when he heard the first two seconds of the countdown begin. But it was when the count immediately jumped to ten when the laser shots began firing, driving the delivery guy into taking off into a sprint, though he slipped on the slightly icy porch with the first step. Upon hearing the accompanying mad laughter, he had to make a flitting crawl onto the snow-covered yard to head for the elevator to consider himself having gotten to safety.

Adorabat carefully watched the pizza guy from the kitchen window and then the front windows and doors at the living room, only stopping the movie once he was out of sight. She returned to the kitchen and opened the accompanying side door, picking up the box of pizza. She closed her eyes and took a long sniff, briefly losing herself in the belly-filling scent. 

“Ah, finally,” she sighed, “a whole mealworm pizza just for me.” With that said, she took it inside and pushed the door behind her closed with one leg.


	10. Chapter 10

Night had fallen at Lunarton City’s aeroport, and the first aero-transport out was preparing to leave. Passengers headed that way were in the middle of boarding, and it was getting close to full capacity. Right at the entrance of the boarding gate, however, a short black cat and a smaller teal bat were occupied with haggling with a couple other would-be passengers.

“Please, come on!” Mao Mao was aggressively doing what he could to keep the two people’s attention on him, hoping to stall for a little more time to negotiate. “You don't need to be anywhere in less than a day, do you?” The two shook their heads but got ready to say something else, but Mao Mao interrupted them at the first hint of the word ‘however’. “This is an emergency! We don't have much time!”

“I can see that,” one of the two said, “but we've already put our time and energy into making this trip.” They heard the intercom behind them abounding that boarding was going to end soon. They turned to leave and head through the gate.

“Just wait, please!” Eugene called fearfully.

The other two stopped and turned again to look at Eugene and Mao Mao with frustration. “What could be so important that you want us to switch with you and delay our own plans?” the other one of the two said exasperatedly.

Eugene paused, unsure of how to properly express his intentions. But it all came out with a restrained sob, coming directly from his heart. “I'm desperate.” The two strangers looked at each other as their faces gently morphed into that of concern. Eugene kept going. “From a father trying to get home to his little girl, please.”

The two looked at each other again. “Oh alright,” they conceded, handing Eugene and Mao Mao their own aero ticket.

Eugene and Mao Mao couldn't be happier. “Oh thank you!” they said to the two good strangers. “Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!” Without wasting further time, both cat and bat seized their gifted chance and went straight to boarding.

* * *

Late at night, Adorabat nestled herself comfortably on the triple-decker bunk bed. While she hung upside down on her part of the bunk, which was the middle, she stared wistfully at the framed picture of herself, Mao Mao, and Badgerclops for long time. As she looked, she thought about all the wonderful and awesome times she's had with them together. She couldn't deny it: she was starting to miss them.

“I didn't mean what I said,” she quietly told the figures in the photo. “If you come back, I'll never wish for you to go away again.” She took another spare glance at the cold winter weather outside the window before looking back at the photo once again. “Good night.”

Adorabat gently kissed the photo and placed it on the middle bed below her, since she was actually hanging upside-down by her feet under the top bed above her. She closed her eyes and waited for sleep to come.


	11. Day 4 - Snowfest Eve

The next morning was just like yesterday’s.

Adorabat was in the bathroom, standing on the sink counter in front of the mirror freshening up. She had a catchy jazzy Snowfest song playing, which she was silently lip-syncing the words of while using the various grooming products available to her. She combed her fur, occasionally holding the comb she used as though it were a microphone. She took a can of fragrant solution and sprayed a few whiffs on herself. Then, she took the bottle of aftershave and sprinkled a few drops on a wing. She rubbed her wings together to spread the liquid solution and placed them on her cheeks for a rub.

The sensation was instantaneous. The burning feeling was strong enough to make her scream, long and loud enough to drive Lucky's pet spider out of hiding and make it leave the bathroom.

* * *

Back in town in an average grocery store, Adorabat carefully examined every shelf of the aisle she was navigating. She had to take her time, as she needed to flap her wings harder than she usually did to pull the shopping cart behind her with the various goodies she already placed in it. Looking in one direction, she went and grabbed a carton of milk to add to the cart.

After she finished grabbing all the items she needed, she pulled the cart towards one of the checkout counters. She could already see the cashier working at that counter give her a funny look, as though the cashier were expecting someone taller and older behind the shopping cart. Adorabat tried to pay no mind to that insinuation, stopping herself right next to the counter and taking out her grocery items to place on the countertop for scanning.

Adorabat watched as the cashier began scanning all the items. She decided to occupy her tone by reading one of the nearby magazines from the rack next to the counter. After a bit of browsing and skimming, she got curious about the boxes of TV dinner that were being scanned. “Are those microwaveable dinners any good?”

“I dunno,” the cashier answered.

“I'll give ‘em a shot,” Adorabat remarked, giving a little smile for self-assurance. She noticed the cashier scanning and then taking a longer-than-usual look at a sealed bag of toy soldiers and military vehicles, holding the bag up for her to see. It was as though she were being asked what that was doing among the rest of the pile of essentials. “For the kids,” was her explanation for it. When she spotted the cashier scanning a juice carton, she knew that was the last item. “Hold on,” she interjected, “I got a coupon for that.” She took out a printed coupon in which its edges made it look like it had been cut with scissors. “It was in the paper this morning.”

The cashier took the coupon Adorabat handed over and scanned it on the cash registering machine, pressing more buttons to calculate the total cost. “$19.83,” the cashier told the bat.

“Okay,” Adorabat affirmed, taking out the required amount of money asked of her. She handed them over to the cashier.

It was at that point, after the transaction was done and over with, that the cashier decided to get curious. “Are you here all by yourself?”

“Really?” Adorabat responded to the question like it was a joke. “I’m 5 years old. You really think I’d be here? Alone? I don't think so.”

“Where’s your mom?” the cashier began probing.

“I don't have a mom.” Adorabat answered.

“What about your dad?” the cashier went further.

“He's waiting outside.” Adorabat said.

“Brothers and sisters?”

“I'm an only child.”

“Where do you live?”

Adorabat was a little uneasier in answering that question. “I…can't tell you that.”

“Why not?” the cashier asked a little bit more insistently.

Adorabat narrowed her eyes, almost like she was leering at the cashier. “Because,” she told the other person in a low gravelly whisper that made her sound ominous, “you’re a stranger.”

That statement alone was enough to make the cashier stop talking and back off. With no other means to get answers from the bat, the cashier turned to begin packing up Adorabat's groceries in bags.

Adorabat took the bagged up groceries, which were exactly two bags. She had one bag held with both of her feet and the other between her teeth. She had to fly back to HQ with her own two wings, holding on to everything the best she could. She was nearly home when she decided to land to take a rest. However, right as she was going to do that, she felt the bags splitting open from the bottom, spilling out all the groceries that were once contained tightly inside them. Adorabat growled in frustration, knowing she was going to need to find some other way to collect them.

She soon did, though, and she made it back home quickly enough.

* * *

Later in the day, in an aerotruck that sat in the woods meters away from HQ, Rufus and Reggie were looking out and at the building, waiting and thinking about their next action.

“I don’t understand,” Rufus muttered without taking his eyes off the building, his chin resting on his hand with an elbow on the window frame. “I mean, it looks like no one is home right now, but it was bustling last night with the sheriffs being present. Something is amiss…” He turned to Reggie. “Go check it out.”

Reggie waited around in the truck, feeling himself in agreement with Rufus’s immediate plan. Rufus, after all, was the idea man. He got a little uncomfortable when the silence dragged on longer than he felt it should, not to mention how he noticed Rufus’s increasingly drilling gaze boring into him at several intervals, as though he was trying to clue the raccoon in. At the very least, Reggie was able to tell something was up with Rufus. “Now?” he said like it was a suggestion.

“No, I meant tomorrow – YES, I mean NOW!” Rufus loudly and sarcastically clarified in his quick moment of frustration. The forcefulness of his voice was enough to get Reggie opening his door and scrambling out of the truck to start walking through the snow towards HQ. Rufus shook his head as he watched Reggie, displeasingly reminded of his raccoon partner’s periodic but typical penchant for dimwitted behavior.

Reggie checked every available corner of the house, going from the edge which led to the dojo and then the other where the waterwheel stood. It was at that side that Adorabat was busy putting some dry goods away on a nearby shelf. When she just put away another item, her eyes widened at noticing a blurred shadow through the curtained window of the nearby door. Even more, she saw the trespasser put his foot through the little flappy door. The purple foot, along with the short round proportions of the leg attached to it, made her realize it belonged to someone she recognized all too well: Reggie. Thinking quickly as Reggie pulled his foot back out, she zipped over to the TV in the living room and turned it on, playing “ ** _Angels with Impure Hearts_** ” again like yesterday.

 **“– get out of here.” – “Alright Timmy, but what about my money?”** Reggie froze when he heard the voices. **“What money?”** Reggie leaned in closer to the door for a better listen. **“Rudy said you had some dough for me.” – “That a fact? How much do I owe you?”**

As the movie continued to play, Adorabat carefully made her way to another corner of the kitchen, doing the best she could to not make a sound.

The TV continued to play. **“Rudy said 10%.” – “Too bad Rudy ain’t in charge no more.”**

Going up to one of the high-hanging hooks, she grabbed a little pot, the kind that had a long handle, and placed it gently in front of the door that Reggie listened from the other side of.

**“What do you mean?” – “He’s upstairs taking a bath. He’ll call you when he gets out…”**

Then, Adorabat went and opened a drawer. In it, she took out the firecrackers she took from Badgerclops garage supply days earlier, and then searched for a flame source, in which she settled for a lighter.

**“…‘Ey, I’ll tell you what I’m gonna give you, Scales.”**

Adorabat got right next to the pot in front of the door, holding the firecrackers just above the pot with the lighter pointed close to it at the ready, carefully listening to the movie dialogue. **“I'm gonna give you to the count of 10 to get your ugly, yellow, no-good keister off my property before I pump your fluff full’a laser beams.”**

The sound of those words made Reggie widen his eyes in looking fright, his breathing deepening and quickening as he immediately heard the countdown. As if on cue, Adorabat held the flame right on the firecrackers and waited until they started to sparkle. Once they did, Adorabat let them fall into the pot, raced to the opposite corner of the kitchen, covered her ears, and waited for the inevitable to begin.

**“One, two, TEN!”**

The crackling spark reached the firecrackers, which instantly exploded with sizzling fire. They were generating deafening pops which were only compounded further thanks to the metal pot they were in, amplifying the explosions with the reverberating metal.

The firecrackers going off in the pot coupled with the movie gunshots on max volume was loud and convincing enough to send Reggie running away in the opposite direction. With every rapid gunshot he heard, he was yelling in fright and tripping over his own feet, even trying in baton to tunnel under the snow to get further away. All the while, the shooter on the TV was maniacally laughing nonstop, with Adorabat soundlessly imitating it, as evident by her similar facial expression while her wings remained pressed over her ears. Once she was sure Reggie was long gone after the movie’s shooting sequence ended, she lip-synced the scene’s final line in all her grim smugness:

**“Keep the change, ya’ filthy animal.”**

* * *

Rufus was surprised to find Reggie scrambling in a dash for the aerotruck, yanking the door on his side open and throwing himself onto the seat beside the fox and pulling the door closed just as hard.

“Reg, what's the matter? Why are you scared and out of breath?” Rufus asked, though he sounded more weirded out than concerned.

Reggie didn't look at Rufus, but continued to stare wide-eyed into space. “I dunno what went on in there, but someone just got blown away!”

That got Rufus curious. “What?”

“There were other guys in there! They beat us to the job! I think there were two of them! There was arguing and then one of them blew the other guy away!”

“Who were they?”

“I dunno, but one of those voices, I swear I heard before. One of those guys was called 'Scales’, I think.”

“Scales?” Rufus raised an eyebrow and then turned away to ponder on his own recognition of that name. “ _Scales…Scales…_ I don't know who that is.”

Reggie was too shaken up to help clarify any further when he was sure he and Rufus were still in a dangerous situation. “Let’s get out of here.”

Rufus got ready to start up the vehicle, but stopped short of turning the key, thinking of something.

“What?” Reggie noticed the fox’s hesitation. “Why aren’t we going?”

Rufus raised a finger to shush Reggie. “Just wait a moment,” he contemplated. “Let's wait and see who comes out, see who it is.”

Reggie blanched. “What!? Why!?”

Rufus shushed him again. “Don't you see? We're working in this area too, the whole valley in fact. If by any chance, we’re caught and we need a negotiation ticket to get off the hook, we’ll offer them knowledge on a murder in the area. Don't you think it would be useful to know a face to go along with their questions?”

Reggie thought about Rufus’s words for a few seconds. “That's a good idea.”

“Of course it's a good idea,” Rufus rolled his eyes. As he looked back at the house, he pondered some more. “ _Scales…_ ”

“Yeah,” Reggie nodded. “He didn't sound like a piano…”


	12. Chapter 12

One late day in another aeroport, a public aero-transport had just landed on the runway.

“I'm sorry, but everything’s full,” a desk assistant said after typing on a keyboard and examining the database.

“Everything?” Mao Mao groaned. Eugene was at the edge of the desk next to the sheriff, looking and feeling just as disappointed.

“It is, I’m afraid, but it is Snowfest Eve.”

Mao Mao hung his head as he let out another growling sigh of frustration. “What about another airline?”

The desk assistant typed on the available computer again to search another page. “Nothing available,” the assistant sighed, then switching to a more cordial accommodating tone representative of typical customer service, “I can book you a hotel room somewhere in town, though. By tomorrow afternoon, we can get you a flight to Pure Heart Valley.”

Mao Mao was furiously shaking his head at hearing that, trying his best to keep his cool. “We can’t wait that long.”

“I’m sorry, sirs. But we’re doing the best we can right now.” The assistant then ushered a pointed hand over Mao Mao’s and Eugene’s shoulders to a couple other people behind them. That action was simultaneously letting those people know they can come next while telling Mao Mao and Eugene that they were holding up the line. Mao Mao didn’t want to move, but Eugene did so for the strangers while pulling Mao Mao along with him.

Mao Mao wasn’t done, but to his surprise, he saw Eugene beat him to the punch by hearing him speak first. “Sorry, you can go.” Eugene said to the lady behind him, but then continued after a pause. “Nice ticket you got there,” the bat complimented her ticket she held in her hand, “I'm sure you're in a hurry, needing to go places.” Eugene was practically spouting filler as concluded by everyone around him who was listening.

Mao Mao would have surely interrupted Eugene to get to the main point, but the bat wasn’t done. To everyone's shock, Mao Mao included, Eugene turned back to the counter and leaned over to try and get in the assistant’s face, even looking as though he slapped his wings on the counter in the process.

“Look, buster,” Eugene said in a low gravelly tone that Mao Mao thought sounded threatening even for himself, “My friend here and I have been awake for almost 60 hours. We're exhausted. We're dirty, thirsty, and famished. We've been on flights from Pure Heart Valley to Lunarton City to Queen’s Puddleland to…where are we?”

“Conifer Island,” the assistant answered.

“I am trying to get home to my 5-year-old daughter!” Eugene let out words louder than how he normally spoke, at that moment no longer caring about his usual need for politeness. “Now that me and my friend are this close, you're saying it's hopeless!?”

The assistant, being a little overwhelmed by the bat’s words, tried to say something but fumbled over what words to use. It was enough time for Mao Mao to get in on Eugene's speech. “No! No, no, no, no, no!!” he interrupted. He was already starting to pound the counter. “This is Snowfest! The season of perpetual hope!” The assistant tried to get another word in, but Mao Mao didn't leave any room for them. He was on a roll, continuing his tirade at such a rapid pace that he nearly got to the point of outright climbing over the counter to get nose-to-nose with the assistant. “You heard what my friend here said! In fact, I don’t care if we have to get on your runway and hitchhike! If it has to cost us everything, our health, our sanity, even the clothes on my back, we are going to get home to our little girl!”

“Sirs, if there's anything I can do for you,” the assistant said, “I can –”

“Do it!” Mao Mao interjected once again. “Do anything!”

“Well, I can get you both a hotel room for tomorrow afternoon –”

Those same words instantly got Mao Mao outraged once again, feeling recharged and ready to blow up at the other person across the counter, this time full force. But he only managed to get the first sound up his throat when he and Eugene were suddenly interrupted by someone speaking from behind.

“Um, excuse me,” the voice cordially addressed the terrorized desk assistant, “I just need to speak with these two gentlemen here. Can you excuse us?” The assistant nodded hard and fast, eager for this current customer service episode to be over already.

Mao Mao and Eugene turned to look at who the source of the mysterious sudden voice belonged to, feeling themselves being pulled away by a familiar sight. Eugene wasn’t as quick to react, but Mao Mao widened his eyes upon seeing who it was. The person's purple robes along with the loopy eyes and hanging pendulum tongue was a dead giveaway.

“Camille?” Mao Mao gasped. “You’re here? Why are you here?” Gone was his frustration, replaced with surprise and curiosity.

Not that it prevented Camille from replying in her own signature carefree disposition. “Well, in case you didn't know, the king’s been ordering some Sweetypie groups to go on mandatory overseas vacations for Snowfest this year.” Behind her, there was a small number of adult Sweetypies sitting together. When they saw Mao Mao, they waved at him in a friendly getting. Mao Mao recognized them from visiting the king’s palace. “Naturally, me, Honey, and some of the palace guards were one of those groups sent to go to…Loonies Glen, I think…to perform a magic-powered light show there for Snowfest Eve night. Tell me, you've seen combustive magic potions in action before, haven't you?”

“No,” said Eugene hesitantly, “I've only ever seen fireworks from a distance.”

“Well, you should know that the process behind potions being launched into the air timed with other magi-technics concentrated on their points is fascinatingly complex,” Camille clarified with pride.

Mao Mao, on the other hand, wasn't as interested or keen to take time to exchange trivia facts. “Never mind that! What's that gotta do with you pulling us away to talk with us right now?”

“Well, I heard you were having travel problems with getting back to Pure Heart Valley. Me and Honey over there,” she pointed to the yellow-dressed squirrel a few meters away, “are in a dilemma ourselves. Our flight got cancelled, so Honey’s arranged to hire a driver to take us to Loonies Glen by bus.”

Eugene, on the other hand, opted to get to the bottom of the matter on the sheriff’s behalf. “So, what’s your ride gotta do with us?”

“Why, it just so happens that Pure Heart Valley is one of the stops on our way to Loonies Glen. Since you’re both trying to get here, well…”

Eugene’s face perked up. “Really?” he gasped, “You’ll give us a ride?”

Camille shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t see why not. In all likelihood, if I said no, Honey would say yes. She can be pretty insistent.” She turned to look at Honey from across the waiting area, waiting until Honey saw her too. When they made eye contact, Camille pointed to Eugene and Mao Mao as to silently tell Honey that she was inviting the two into their group. Honey silently nodded in agreement as usual.

Eugene was giddy. “Thank you!” he cried in tearful joy. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much!” He swiveled over to Mao Mao. “This is it! We got a straight way back to Adorabat!”

Mao Mao was just as vibrant as Eugene at the same moment. “Yes! Yes! This is an absolute miracle!” He turned to Camille. “So then…You said you were going by bus. How fast does this aerobus go?” Mao Mao asked wishfully.

“Aerobus!?” Camille laughed. “What aero? We're riding a bus on tires!” She leaned over to the two guys like she was trying to whisper a secret. “We’re going traditional as part of our enchanting act. What do you think?”

Whatever elated jubilation Eugene and Mao Mao felt a few seconds ago fizzled out instantly and completely. Eugene looked at her blankly like he heard something just unbelievable. Mao Mao briefly stood still before letting his knees buckle, sending him crumpling to the ground with sobs.

Even Camille had to acknowledge that the sheriff’s reaction was a little rather overdramatic. “Hey, what’s with the breakdown?”

Mao Mao didn’t respond right away, opting to repeatedly mutter the word “ _tires_ ” nonstop to no one while curled up in a ball on his side, rolling left and right.


	13. Chapter 13

In an aerotruck sitting meters away from Sheriff’s HQ, Rufus and Reggie snoozed away in their seats, having fallen asleep from trying to scope out the place for several hours. It was only when the faint distant sound of a door closing shut reached Rufus’s keen ears that he woke up first. When he spotted what was going on, he reached over to Reggie to shake him awake.

“Reggie!” Rufus hissed. “Look at that!” Once he was sure Reggie was completely awake and aware and looking in his direction, Rufus resumed his own viewing as well.

Out on the front yard, still very close to HQ, Adorabat was trudging through the snow, carrying a handsaw in one of her wings. She went over to the side of the house to look among the trees that stood before her. She only stopped scanning when she did find a tree, and she flapped her wings to fly up to the tree she chose. She perched herself on one of the tree’s branches just above where the middle of its trunk would be and then began sawing away at said trunk. She kept sawing until the top part of the tree was completely separated, then with a little helping push, the sawed half fell right down into the snow. Adorabat flew off the branch she stood on and back onto the snow, grabbing the tree portion she cut and dragged it through the snow with her back to HQ.

“Reggie,” Rufus grinned, “I think we were just scammed by a kindergartner.”

* * *

Inside the house in the living room, Adorabat had finished setting up the cut tree near one of the windows, having gotten it mostly decorated with tinsel and a variety of hanging ornaments.

Outside, Rufus and Reggie had snuck to the front porch, carefully crouched down below the windows to spy on the lone bat inside. Rufus slowly and carefully peered above the windowsill, only keeping his eyes and fingertips in clear range of the glass pane, and meticulously observed what Adorabat was doing.

Adorabat had just finished hanging up a round ornament on one of the tree branches when she gasped in quiet shock. She had caught a glimpse of the ornament’s reflection, the sight of the window behind her having a suspicious shape just above the bottom part. It looked like the top half of a face of red fur, with a pair of black-tipped ears and a pair of yellow eyes below, along with black-tipped fingers. She knew: he was back.

Adorabat had to improvise. Looking at the empty staircase that led to the attic, she called out, “Hey Mao Mao, can you come here and help me?” When she saw from the ornament’s reflection that Rufus had not moved position, she moved away from the tree to another part of the house, making herself look like she was going to fetch someone.

Rufus lowered his head and shook it, internally already calling the little bat’s bluff. He turned to Reggie, who was still huddled under the window. “Remember that little bat child we ran into yesterday? She’s with that sheriff.” When Reggie appeared to prod him for further clarification, Rufus leaned in closer to the raccoon. “She lives here.”

Reggie looked rather uneasy. “Well, if she’s here, then the sheriff’s gotta be too.”

Rufus shook his head, smiling. “She’s home alone.” Reggie took a few seconds to process the statement and then slowly nodded as he understood what that meant for himself and Rufus. Like Rufus, he too was smiling opportunistically. He looked back up in time to see Rufus getting back off the porch to leave and return to the aerotruck.

“So what’s the plan now?” Reggie asked as he took after his taller partner through the trees.

“We’re going back there tonight.”

“Tonight?” Reggie gasped. “Even with the bat kid still there?”

“Yes,” Rufus answered bluntly.

“But…going in when it’s still occupied…is that really a good idea?”

Rufus swiveled around, startling Reggie that he nearly fell backwards onto the snow. “Listen Reggie,” Rufus growled to the shorter raccoon, irate over his partner’s questioning, “That house is the only reason you and I are back in this valley. Ever since I found out that it was where that wretched sheriff lived, I had to go after it, make him and his stinker friends pay for what they did to us!”

At the same time, Adorabat had flown out of HQ to spy on Rufus and Reggie from the top of the roof, carefully listening and keeping her eyes on the pair below.

Rufus continued. “So, let’s take it one step at a time. We’ll have the aerotruck ready for the loot, go into town and grab a bite to eat, and be back at nine o’clock. By that time, it will be dark.”

“ _Nine o’clock_ ,” Adorabat whispered to herself in affirmation of what she overheard.

Reggie grinned as he felt impressed by the plan Rufus laid out before him. “Yeah,” he nodded, “Kids are scared of the dark.”

Rufus, on the other hand, appeared to be somewhat disappointed and beguiled at what Reggie said. “You’re afraid of the dark too, Reggie.”

Reggie looked offended at what Rufus said. “No, I’m not!” he protested as he followed after Rufus when the latter resumed walking. Rufus simply answered him with “ _Yes, you are_ ”, followed by Reggie insisting he isn’t.

Adorabat could only watch the fox and raccoon leave as she grew a little more nervous. “ _Mao Mao…Badgerclops…dad…where are you?_ ” she whispered shudderingly.

* * *

On a winding mountainside highway next to a wooded loch, a landbound bus rolled along the curves of the road. The inside of it was packed with passengers. Mao Mao and Eugene were nearly crowded by the number of performers, Camille and Honey included, who were sparing no extra second practicing their magical skills required for their upcoming theatrical performance. It was rather noisy inside as every robed performer was fiddling with a potion or some other magically-charged gadget.

Eugene could only look at Camille nervously when she presented to him one of her potion blends. She had just formulated it from where she sat on the bus despite said bus being rather rickety as it rolled across the road.

Mao Mao sat next to Eugene, and he tried his best to limit himself to staring at the front windshield of the bus, focusing on the view of the road ahead of him. His arms were crossed over his chest, had one leg over the other, and his face had a glum terse expression the whole time, not saying a single word. He only showed a reaction when Honey used her performing tool to generate a form of magic clouds to shield him from the others’ actions. Despite Honey's spell also generating a faint display of swirling colors, Mao Mao was in no mood to feel impressed – he had no time for it.

As if to compound his situation further, he noticed from the corner of his eye that Camille was in the middle of mixing a few more pinches of red and blue-colored powder into a mini-cauldron. The alteration of the formula caused the liquid mixture inside to glow brighter and smoke more heavily at an alarmingly fast pace. At that moment, Mao Mao was paying full attention, his eyes snapping wide open while he tried to jump from his seat in an attempt to stop what was about to happen right now.

“EVERYONE, STOP THA–!” the sheriff managed to yell before the whole bus was enveloped in an explosion of multicolored vapor. Outside, the windows gently rattled as the edges of the panes and frames leaked out a flash of dyed clouds.


	14. Chapter 14

Back down in Pure Heart Valley’s town areas at night, Adorabat was flying towards a particularly decorated shack. She was able to make it to the shack’s front door where a dressed lady Sweetypie was currently closing and locking up, being literally about to leave. “Excuse me,” she said to the grownup, getting her attention. “Is the Gift-Saint still here? It's really important that I talk to him.”

The lady pointed Adorabat to the street across from the shack. “He's about to get in his car. If you hurry, you can catch him.” Adorabat nodded and thanked her before taking off for her target destination.

Next to a car that sat at the curb, an adult male Sweetypie heavily dressed in showy robes had just about opened the driver door of his car. He was thinking a jolly tune to himself when he noticed Adorabat coming up to him. “Excuse me!” Adorabat called to him. “Mr. Gift-Saint?”

The guy closed his car door. “Yeah, kiddo? What can I do for you?”

Adorabat was about to tell him when her eyes trailed down to the robe he was wearing for a moment. “Nice outfit,” she complimented. “You look like a really jolly man.”

The guy dressed as the Gift-Saint smiled back. “Why thanks. Tonight's been a good night. At least there’s no sheriff around to give out parking tickets at this time of the year.”

Adorabat frowned a little at the way the guy talked about Mao Mao, but let it pass since he didn't say anything remotely disparaging. However, she was curious. “He gave you a ticket before?”

He was rather nonchalant. “Eh, he gave me a ticket just last week just for parking in the park, but I was just making my landing for the pre-Eve dance. Getting a ticket for something so small but nice, what's next? Rabies shots on Spring Sweets Week?”

Adorabat decided to ignore the guy’s miniature rant to get back on topic. “Well, that's hard. You got a minute?”

The Gift-Saint man replied to her, “Sure, but do make it quick. Gift-Saint here has a gathering he's gotta make it to on time.”

“Okay,” Adorabat began, “First up, I know you're not the real Gift-Saint.”

The Gift-Saint man raised an eyebrow. “What makes you say that?”

“I'm old enough to know how it works,” Adorabat explained, but continued before the guy could say anything else to further bring down the mood, “but I also know that you work for him, so I just want you to give him a message for me.”

“Lay it on me,” the guy told her invitingly.

“Okay,” Adorabat began. “This is extremely important, so please listen. My name’s Adorabat and I live at the Sheriff’s Department HQ just out of town. I like you to tell him that instead of presents this year, I just want my family and friends back. Mao Mao, Badgerclops, my dad Eugene, and my classmates Chubbum, Ketchup, Plippy, Kevin, and if he has time, Lucky too.”

The man slowly nodded as he took in the bat’s request, surprised that the girl is connected to the sheriff he just complained about. “Okay…I'll see what I can do.”

“Thanks,” Adorabat told him, but before she could leave, she was stopped by him calling her.

“Wait, hold on,” he said to her. He hurriedly shuffled a hand in one of his pockets to look for something. “I usually hand out candy canes, but I gave away the last one a little while ago.” He fished out a little tin box of tic-tacs. “I hope you don't mind these.”

“That's okay,” Adorabat politely tried to refuse.

“No, no, don't be silly,” the man jested, “every kid should get a little something when they see the Gift-Saint.” He gently took Adorabat's wing and sprinkled a few tic-tacs onto it for her to grasp. “Here you go. Happy Snowfest to you. Just don't spoil your dinner now.” He winked to her as he said that.

Adorabat smiled. “I won’t. Thanks.” With that, she turned to leave, allowing the guy to finally go back to his car, getting in and starting the engine. He didn't get far though, having shortly ended up getting stuck in a snowbank to his verbal chagrin.

* * *

As Adorabat gently flew through town, she happened to take a side glimpse at a nearby house, prompting her to land on the ground to look through the warmly lit windows for a moment. Seeing inside, there were a number of Sweetypies, young and old, gathered together, talking and laughing as they got ready to seat themselves around a dinner table. There were even a few others who took a moment to add an ornament to their Snowfest tree.

Adorabat felt she should be happy for them, but she mostly looked on sadly as she remembered what she was missing at this very moment. She turned to fly away.

After a while, she thought about stopping by Town Square for a bit when she noticed a large gathering of Sweetypies there. When she landed, she saw that it was indeed the case. Many Sweetypies were present and standing together around the decorated tree that stood in the middle of the plaza, just meters from the main fountain. Everyone there was caroling, singing a gentle and graceful Snowfest song. Adorabat felt the melodies complementing the strong colorful lights that hung around the tree and reflected off the other assorted shiny ornaments. She thought to herself that it was indeed a beautiful, peaceful, and comforting atmosphere…up until she noticed someone whom she knew all too well to be the last person she hoped to see: Orangusnake.

Her eyes widened, her body tensing as she felt ready to go at him again, but she froze as she knew what was going on right now, the overall mood. She didn't know what the scarfed Sky Pirate was doing there, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to ruin the mood of tonight just for a fight. As if to complicate her dilemma further, Orangusnake had noticed her too and slowly began walking towards her. Adorabat clenched herself even further the closer the pirate came to her, and once he stopped to stand next to her, she was just on the verge of exploding with aggressive energy. The silence between them amidst the other Sweetypies' singing was almost too much.

“Uh,” Orangusnake opened his mouth, prompting Adorabat into a defensive pose, “Happy Snowfest.”

Adorabat blinked. “Huh?”

Orangusnake knelt down closer to her level. “So, what do you think I'm up to this time?” Adorabat didn't know how to respond, just shaking her head and shrugging her shoulders without saying a word. Orangusnake looked back at the tree. “You like the tree? I actually helped set it up along with the ones in the junkyard.”

That made Adorabat feel even more confused. “I don't get it. Why are you suddenly doing non-evil things?”

Orangusnake thought over what words to use. “Let's just say that with these temperatures, I was willing to call 'timesies’ for now.”

Adorabat figured that now was as good a time as any to get to the bottom of this paradox. “So why even do nice things in the first place? Are you trying to get the Gift-Saint to give you presents this year? You need to be better than that.”

Orangusnake frowned heavily. “What? Of course I’m not trying to be a good boy…not really anyway. It’s freezing back at the ship and my fellow pirates are too cold to do anything on their own, so it’s been left to me to hold them up until spring. And I’m not gonna get any warm and yummy stuff just from trashing the holiday cheer. Your people were so nice to even let me do stuff for them in exchange for the winter goods that it’s unreal.”

Adorabat couldn’t quite figure out if it was her imagination, but she was sure that Orangusnake was looking proud of himself as he continued talking. “Thanks to the work I’ve - _ahem_ \- ‘lowered’ myself into doing, I’ve been getting food, blankets, and even some gear for heat to keep my crew going. But since however much I bring back to the ship for us all never seems to be enough, I wonder how much longer I have to keep doing this until the snow melts…”

“So…you’re not trying to steal stuff?” Adorabat asked for further clarification. “Not even the Ruby Pure Heart? Does this mean you’re not pirates anymore?”

“Hah! You wish!” Orangusnake scoffed with a flick of his wrist. “I’ll always be after the Ruby Pure Heart, just as I know you, Mao Mao, and Badgerclops will be here to try and stop me. But as much as I want to steal it while it's just you around, it’s way too cold for that.” He took a breath and let it out like a frustrated growl. “I’m already swamped from helping out with mopping up flooded houses as is. It’s hard enough getting every inch and corner dry and not knowing why it’s even happening.”

Adorabat waited, but then flapped her wings to fly right up to Orangusnake’s eye level and then land on his shoulder. She didn’t need to worry about him swatting her off, even though his teeth-bared face told her that he didn’t like her invading his space like that. “So, ‘timesies’ like you said?”

Orangusnake sighed. “Yeah, so how about we call ‘timesies’ for now, at least until Mao Mao and Badgerclops are back? Then, it’s on.” He held up a hand to Adorabat. “Deal?”

Adorabat, after silently assessing him while he explained himself, felt safe enough to decide that he wasn’t a threat for now. In fact, she felt a little bit of a newfound respect for the Sky Pirate who himself respected the boundaries of a social celebration. “Deal,” she told him, putting her wing on his hand in a touch of mutual agreement.

The two let out a breath they both held for a little too long, relieved that the tension between them was over. Adorabat figured that now was as good a time as any to hurry on back home. She flew back into the air, but before she went in the direction of HQ, she took another glance at Orangusnake. “You know, you could always go to the king for gifts. He’s always excited about giving out the craziest gifts on Snowfest Eve.”

“Are you talking about the clown?” Orangusnake asked incredulously. “Well, I guess that’s an idea. But I highly doubt he’d want to hand over his precious presents to a pirate like me. He’d probably freak out the first second he sees my face. I’ll pass.”

Adorabat frowned, but perked up as she suddenly had an idea. “Alright then.” Before she left, she spoke to him with a smile one last time. “Happy Snowfest, big meanie.”

Orangusnake smiled back with a wink. “Happy Snowfest, little brat.”

Adorabat returned his smile with a bigger one of her own and finally flew away. As she passed over the town gate and made her way in the direction of HQ, she heard the chiming of a distant clock tower, making her panic a bit and fly faster. She had to hurry home.

Once she finally made it back, she got right through the front door and slammed it shut behind her. She rested her back against the door inside to think of what to do next. But she shortly pulled herself together, knowing better than to idle for another second just thinking when she had to do it on the fly. She steeled herself for what she had to do.

“This is my house. I have to defend it.”

* * *

On top of Mao Mao’s office desk, Adorabat cleared away the surface to unroll a map of the house, floor plans hand-drawn in crayon with several parts having little drawings of various contraptions she had in mind. Adorabat carefully reviewed what she drew, making sure that what came next was directly according to the plan:

On the main living room floor of the house, Adorabat carefully placed a down a number of toy cars and then a bunch of her toy paratrooper soldiers on the edge of a few rafter beams.

Outside, Adorabat carefully poured buckets of water onto the front porch and steps, doing the same with the ones leading to the dojo and also the tunnel floor connected to the basement garage. On the porch, she made sure to pile lots of junk between the front door and the pathway to the waterwheel.

She went through a few shelves of maintenance supplies in the garage to pull out several bottles of gardening spray, not noticing Lucky’s spider watching her do that. She taped the spray bottles together into a pair of towers facing the front sliding doors in the middle, tying each bottle’s nozzle handles to both doors with string.

Adorabat went on to smear globs of tar on the steps of the staircase that led from the garage back up to the main floor. She added a small sheet of sandpaper with a nail embedded in it on top of one of the steps, making sure the nail’s pointy end stood upright.

She went outside the house, flying from the rooftop to the top of the dojo with a loop of elastic rope tied to her waist. She had two ends of the rope tied to the house roof while she stretched the middle to go just around the top tip of one of the logs that composed the center top of the dojo to hold it tight. Once it was finished being set up, it looked like a slingshot.

Adorabat then proceeded to place several ornaments underneath the rear window in the bedroom. She made sure every one of them was the fragile glass type, even adding a few pointy star-shaped ones for good measure.

She set up bath bombs and tied them with long ropes to the other remaining beams in the main atrium’s rafters, remembering how she and Mao Mao set them up one time to clean Badgerclops when he once stank so bad. Once she was finished setting them up, she moved on. Lucky’s spider passed by that spot from behind her.

* * *

Once Adorabat was finished setting up her contraptions around the house, she finally decided to take a rest. She took some time at Mao Mao’s office desk to use the phone to call King Snugglemagne, talking to him for a little bit. After that, she turned on the colorful lights around the tree she set up.

Adorabat then waited until the microwave had finished its job, opening it to remove the microwaveable dinner she bought in town earlier in the day. Mao Mao, Badgerclops, her dad, and the rest were not going to be back until the Gift-Saint heard and granted her request, so tonight, she was on her own for Snowfest Eve dinner.


	15. Chapter 15

Outside the house, Rufus parked the aerotruck in the same forested spot, getting out with Reggie right behind him.

“Don't forget,” Rufus reminded Reggie, “We’ll check out the place first, and we can always come back for the truck.”

“How do you wanna go in?” Reggie asked his partner, since Rufus was the man with a plan.

Rufus deliberated for a second. “We’ll go in from the side door,” he pointed to his right, to the part of the house with the waterwheel. “Maybe she'll let us in, you never know.”

Reggie grinned. “Yeah, okay. She's a kid. Kids are stupid.”

* * *

Sitting at a table in the kitchen, Adorabat prepared to have her dinner. Before she began, she placed her wings together and closed her eyes in reverence.

“Dear Ruby Pure Heart, please bless this highly nutritious microwaveable dinner and the grownups who sold it on sale.” Once that was finished, Adorabat opened her eyes and took her little fork and spoon.

She was just about to dig in when the clock chimed to announce it was now nine o’clock. She knew that in a short moment, there would be no turning back, so she put down her spoon and fork. Grabbing the plate in both wings, she tipped it over to pour the dinner down her mouth, chewing for a bit with inflated cheeks before swallowing it all up in one gulp.

She then grabbed the BB-gun arm she took from Badgerclops’s stash in the garage and gave it a pump, hiding behind the kitchen’s outer side door as she did so. “ _This is it_ ,” she told herself for one last boost of self-confidence, “ _Don't get scared now._ ” She stayed where she was and listened for the sound of footsteps in snow, more adamantly holding her position once the steps got louder and turned to thumps on wood. She tensed when she heard that first knock on the door.

“Happy Snowfest, little girl,” Rufus greeted through the door with a smile. He said it in a slightly exaggerated singsong version of the gentlemanly tone he once used the last time he was in Pure Heart Valley on Takesgiving Day. “We know that you're in there, and that you're all alone.”

Reggie got in on the fun. “Yeah, kiddo. Open up.” He tried to sound just as jovial as Rufus. “It's the Gift-Saint…” he paused for a moment to improvise, “…and his little helper.”

Adorabat slowly held the BB-gun arm against the door’s doggy hatch, careful not to poke it out the door right away since Reggie was short and could spot it easily.

Rufus couldn't help but let out a half-hearted chuckle at his little partner's attempt to fool Adorabat, not entirely impressed but willing to go with whatever worked. He turned back to the door. “We're not going to hurt you.”

“No, we got some nice presents for you,” Reggie backed up Rufus.

Adorabat poked the tip of the BB-gun arm’s barrel through the doggy hatch in time for Rufus to step closer to the door and speak. “Be a good little girl and open the door.” Adorabat pulled the trigger.

***K-THWACK***

Rufus squealed, doubling over in a restrained show of pain before stumbling away from the door and to the waterwheel. He practically hopped before falling to his knees, letting out a stream of contained noises of agony while bending over and clutching between his legs. His eyes squeezed shut and ears flattened against his head sealed the deal.

Reggie was quick to be by his friend’s side. “Rufus! What happened?” Rufus could only answer him with more pained noises. “What?” Reggie asked for clarification. Rufus kept making noises. Reggie finally had to ask Rufus loudly for any results. “What is it!?”

Rufus managed to recover enough of his sanity to muster up a few words. “Get that little –” was all he could say to Reggie, pointing back at the door. Once Reggie did what he said, he went right back to distressingly holding both his hands between his legs, muttering more incoherent whispers.

Reggie tried to see if he could examine the top of the door, but given that he was too short, he immediately gave up. He opted to take a peek inside from the doggy hatch, so he slowly and carefully poked his head through the flap. Once his head was completely through the door and now seeing the other side, he looked ahead to come face-to-face with the barrel of an arm-shaped BB-gun. Even more, he was also face-to-face with the kids holding and pointing the weapon at him. He felt uncomfortable with the way the little bat child’s eyes were half-drooped and half-narrowed in a manner that made her look ready for the kill. The raccoon thought he’d give a big toothy smile anyway.

Adorabat smiled back at Reggie. “Hello,” she greeted flatly before pulling the trigger and firing a BB pellet at his forehead. The impact right between Reggie's eyes briefly turned him cross-eyed before he then yanked his head back out the doggy hatch, clutching his forehead and letting out his own yells of pain as he rolled around on his back. “Yes!” Adorabat quietly cheered and gave herself a fist pump before hurriedly leaving the kitchen. “Yes, yes, yes!”

Outside, both Reggie and Rufus were just recovering from their bouts of pain.

“The little brat is armed!” Reggie grunted, a hand still on his forehead.

“That's it!” Rufus blurted, having fully recovered from his pain but still feeling the aftereffects of having been dealt it in the first place. “I’m going to the front! You go to the back!” Without stopping to wait for Reggie to get up, the fox scrambled back onto his feet and went back onto the snow-covered yard, stomping through the deep powdery white to head for the front porch where the main doors were. Reggie got back on his feet to go the other way, making his way around the waterwheel.

* * *

When Rufus got closer to the front porch, having gone around the corner, he felt a little more irritated that a pile of big heavy junk stood in his way, forcing him to go down to the snow and approach the door from the main steps. Once he finally did so, he marched to the steps to get right to business. He was too preoccupied with his distaste for what Adorabat did to his nether region to notice anything particular about the steps. The moment he placed his foot onto the first ice-covered porch step was when he went flying. His feet arced up and his head and shoulders arced down, swinging his entire body horizontal in the air and forcing him to let out a startled yell before falling flat on his back onto the snow. Rufus silently stared up at the night sky, his eyes widened in shock from the landing.

* * *

At the back of the house, Reggie had just arrived and began looking for any accessible entryways into the house. He noticed one window on the house’s rear wall that was near the waterwheel (the bedroom) and another larger window further along (the one behind Mao Mao’s office desk) that hung just above a frozen stream, the ice tracing back to the waterwheel at the side. Reggie thought it was convenient that the stream froze over, giving him a free and easy platform of ice to walk on. He leisurely stepped onto the icy surface without further thought…and then slipped, falling backwards and landing on his back on the ice. To make matters worse for him, he was sliding straight for the edge of the frozen ice-covered waterfall. At the speed he went, Reggie could do nothing but yelp and flail all four limbs as he went right over the edge and went straight down, falling down the cliff to another rocky landing below. All that occurred after that was him muttering at the bottom. “Ow.”

Reggie was lucky he didn’t fall far down the frozen waterfall. It took him a whole lot of his energy just to climb back up the cliff. He would have kept going until he was back at the top, but he noticed a tunnel right behind the waterfall, which was directly below the house. Reggie decided to take that shortcut, scrambling into the tunnel and following it until he made out a closed shutter door at the end. The raccoon thought such an entryway was an ample enough opportunity, and it was better than nothing, so he waltzed right for it. He just didn’t expect another layer of ice beneath his feet, which he also slipped on and slid until he collided with the shutter door.

* * *

Rufus scrambled back onto his feet after heaving himself off his back. “ _Smart aleck_ ,” he growled under his breath. He was aware enough to realize that using the steps would not work again, so he went for the edge of the porch itself, intent on climbing it with both hands and feet. He placed both of his hands onto the surface of the porch and immediately, they both slipped on the ice. His hands slid away from each other, leaving Rufus falling forward right down onto the porch flooring, landing chin first with a smack. Rufus fell back onto the snow in a daze.

* * *

Reggie pulled at the shutter door in the underground tunnel. It was a little harder than it looked due to having to pull it up to open it without slipping on the layer of ice he unavoidably stood on. Once he finally got it open enough to get in, he let the door drop shut behind him as he stepped inside the garage basement itself. He looked left and right to see if there was anything worth taking, but remembered that he still needed a way out after, so he held off the urge to burglarize for now. Ahead of him, he saw two ways up to the main floor – a multi-level staircase and a trio of sliding poles. Rufus deeply deliberated on which one to take. He could take the stairs, but those were quite the number of steps and it was back and forth on the way up. “ _Poles, it is_ ,” he concluded to himself.

Reggie marched to the base of the sliding poles and prepped himself, bending and tensing his legs and giving his rump a little wiggle before he jumped. When he was in the air, the raccoon grabbed at the poles with both hands and feet…only to slide right down so rapidly that he had no time to protect his rump from the hard landing back on the garage floor. Reggie shouted painfully as he felt his behind slam down on the floor. He stayed still to avoid hurting his poor rump even more, but remained tensed as he craned his head up to see the poles coated in a slimy grease. Reggie staggered back on his feet to get a look at why he couldn't go that way. He happened upon a string that dangled from the hole at the top of the poles. The raccoon thought it was better than nothing, so he pulled at it. He didn't expect to find a laundry iron tied on the other end of the string, pulled down over the edge of the hole and sent hurtling down on his forehead. The sheer impact was enough to knock Reggie to the floor on his back.

* * *

Rufus sat back up on the snow, feeling even more aware of the two easy blunders he just underwent. “ _Oh, that’s it_ ,” he muttered quietly and angrily. In each of his hands, he took a wad of snow and crawled on all fours on the porch steps, climbing them with the intent of the snow acting as his grip on the ice. To his credit, the plan worked, and Rufus was right on the porch within reach of the front doors themselves. Rufus snickered at having outsmarted the icy obstacle. Getting back on his feet, he examined the front doors and tried to have a look through the framed screens. “ _Where did you go now, gremlin?_ ” he whispered to no one as he got a picture of the interior. He noticed the handles on both sliding doors and gave them a tug, finding them unlocked. He let out another chuckle at how dumb and easy Adorabat made that for him and pulled to open it some more.

Right on the other side, Rufus was greeted with a stack of spray cans. As he pulled both sliding doors open, the strings tied to them pulled the triggers of every spray can tied on the other ends. As a result, Rufus was instantly sprayed in the face and from head to toe with gardening solution. Rufus let out a loud yell as he closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands, staggering so erratically from the shock of being sprayed with chemicals that he slipped backwards on the icy porch yet again. Rufus scrambled back onto the snowy yard to shove his face into the snow. He kept his head buried in it, waiting for the snow to melt around his face and wash off the chemicals that stung his skin.

Standing on the rafters above the front doors, Adorabat scored a victory for another successful booby trap. “Yes!” she cheered, dancing on the beam she stood on before prancing away with her wings waving in freestyle. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!”

* * *

Reggie’s attempted trip out of the basement wasn’t any easier than taking the sliding poles. When he concluded that the poles were no good in more ways than one, he went right for the stairs. But now, he was yanking his feet up step by step as every step of the stairs was covered in super sticky tar. He even pulled himself forward along the handrail for a better chance at progression. Reggie could see that he was about to reach the landing that connected the first set of stairs he was on with the second one further up. But what he didn't see was that one of his feet took the next step above right onto a nail that protruded out of the tar. Reggie froze in his tracks, his eyes wide open, and slowly looked down to his foot where he felt the sudden stinging sensation.

“AAAAAAAAAAAUUUGGHHHHH!!!” Reggie hollered, grabbing his foot in both hands and falling backwards, ending up back at the bottom of the stairs.

* * *

Rufus was furiously stomping back to the kitchen side door, muttering even more intensely and angrily. He was letting out a long string of angry gibberish before topping it off with a coherent sentence said through gritted teeth that went along the lines of “ _I'm going to pop her head off_ ”. When he got to the door, he hurriedly exercised a little more caution this time around, momentarily kicking his foot through the doggy hatch. He carefully clasped the doorknob and slowly pushed it open until there was a crack. He peeked through the crack to have a look inside the kitchen and found there was no attachment of gardening spray cans waiting for him. Rufus smirked. “ _You’re finished, little girl,_ ” he sneered lowly. He pushed the door open some more…which tightened a string attached to it that was also tied to the trigger of another gadget that hung just above the door. The pushing of the door pulled the string and subsequently the trigger of the gadget, activating it. Flames flared out of the gadget, as it turned out to be a blowtorch.

The flames also happened to make their mark on the top of Rufus’s head, inflicting upon him a literal slow burn. Judging by his reaction, it did not go unnoticed.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Rufus threw himself away from the door for a second time, staggering and flailing in circles as his head was billowing with tongues of fire. They danced so brightly against the surrounding darkness of night. Rufus made a nosedive into the snow to put out the flames, the snow extinguishing them with a steamy hiss. He kept his head buried in the snow for several seconds like before, and then pulled it out to see that the very top of his scalp was completely bare, devoid of fur and showing only skin. The same could be said for his ears, which were now just bare skin and none of the red and black tips remaining. Hissing water vapor continued to billow gently from the top of his noggin.

* * *

Reggie, meanwhile, had enough of the garage basement. There was no way up to the main floor there except for the poles and stairs, and both had dealt him an egregious amount of pain and torture. He hurriedly hobbled back to the shutter door since he had just undergone the agony of stepping on a nail. Not caring how much noise he made, he threw the shutter door open and stomped as hard as he could back out into the tunnel. A second later, he slipped and fell on the ice, sliding to the opening behind the waterfall and falling out and down the cliff face again.

* * *

Rufus wasn’t sure how badly burned his head was. He had raised a trembling hand to touch his burned bare noggin a couple times, but for both attempts, he recoiled his hand at first contact. His fingertips felt the instant high-temperature that surprisingly remained so even after several minutes of exposure to the cold winter night air, with each touch eliciting an audible steaming hiss.

Oh, that was it for Rufus. He thought he was patient, but the tiny mirthless snickers that escaped him were a gentle signal that he reached his limit. Turning back to the kitchen door, he moved at a gradually faster speed until he was practically sprinting. When he got close enough to the door, he jumped and raised a foot forward to kick the door wide open, pulling the blowtorch down onto the floor. Once he was fully inside, Rufus slammed the door shut behind him as he scanned the kitchen for the target of his ire, screeching, “WHERE ARE YOU, YOU LITTLE CREEP!!?”

* * *

Reggie was almost out of breath again when he climbed back to the top of the frozen waterfall. Considering he had his fill of slipping on ice, he was fine with crawling on all fours the rest of the way. He took another glance at the house’s two rear windows. He carefully crawled on the ice, inching past the office window and closer to the bedroom window until he was directly under it. “Hey Rufus, I’m coming in!” he called, hoping his voice would be heard through the window by Rufus if he was already inside. He just hoped it wasn’t Adorabat listening on the other side.

* * *

Rufus angrily stomped to the other end of the kitchen as he scanned for Adorabat. He was close to the door that led into the main living room when he stopped at the sound of Adorabat’s voice.

“Oh no! I’m really scared!” Adorabat taunted to Rufus from the rafters.

Rufus pushed himself to refuse to play the bat’s game. “It’s too late for you, girl! We’re already in the house! We’re going to get you!”

“Alright! Come and get me then!” Adorabat fired back with another taunt before scampering away on the rafters in the opposite direction of Rufus.

Rufus could feel the pressurized steam building up in him. “ _Why you_ ,” he let out a feral growl escape his throat as he moved after Adorabat. He didn’t get far though when he suddenly tripped over a string that was stretched tightly at ankle height. He fell flat on his face at terminal velocity with a loud wooden smack. Rufus angrily threw himself back onto his feet. “NOW YOU’RE DEAD!” he hollered just in time to witness a rain of toy soldiers parachuting from the rafters down to where he stood. For half a second, he questioned what sort of devious trap these little plastic paratroopers entailed. He soon got his answer when they drifted down close enough to him to explode in his face, covering him in white bubbly clouds that looked like a cross between baking soda and seltzers.

* * *

Under the rear bedroom window outside, Reggie carefully positioned himself, giving another little rump wiggle before leaping right up and grabbing the windowsill. It took him much more effort after that, as he had to simultaneously pull himself up while pushing with his feet against the wall. It didn’t help that his foot still hurt. In astoundingly little time, Reggie was able to get himself onto the windowsill while pushing the actual window open at the same time, making him feel like giving himself a pat on the back for this tremendous effort. He hoisted himself over the windowsill to set foot into the house proper. He sat on it for a moment and then let himself slip down to stand on the floor inside the house, next to the bunk bed on his left. Too bad he didn’t notice the glass ornaments underneath his feet…

 ***SMASH*** “AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHH!!!!!!” Reggie cried as he stumbled to the floor, his back against the wall and sliding down a bit until Reggie was sitting completely. His face was contorted into a squeezed expression of absolute agony, his paws clutching both of his distressed feet. He knew what he wanted to happen next, what he wanted to do. “I’M GONNA BEAT THAT KID!!!” He staggeringly pulled himself back upright and tried to go to the bedroom’s exit door, leading to him stepping on at least one more ornament which triggered another squeal out of him.

* * *

Right as Reggie left the bedroom and entered the main atrium, Rufus was busy trying to wipe himself clean of the white foam that blew up all over him earlier. By the time he finished wiping himself off, he turned to his right to see Reggie hobbling out the nearby door. Even when Reggie stopped to notice him, Rufus remained speechless at the state of his friend. “Reggie?”

Reggie was equally befuddled. “Rufus?”

“Why do your feet look so filthy?” Rufus asked.

“Why are you dressed like a snowman?” Reggie asked back. Rufus had no words for him.

Both the fox and raccoon were interrupted by the sound of Adorabat’s loud voice calling them from the side door on the other side of the atrium. “I’m over here, you morons!”

Both of them sprang into action as they chased after her in a brief sprint, only to immediately step on a number of toy cars on the floor ahead of them. They swung into the air feet first with startled yells and landed on their backs in a splat.

Adorabat smirked. “You guys give up, or are you hungry for more?” She turned away to go through the door without waiting for answer.

Rufus was the first to scramble back to his feet, too much in a hurry to notice he was stepping over Reggie as he tried to follow after Adorabat. Reggie soon followed suit only after flailing around on his back for a second or so. They went right out onto the side porch and made another flying shout-laden slip on its surface and steps, sliding right into the middle of the open-air training dojo.

“Now where are we?” Rufus grunted.

He and Rufus got back on their feet to look around the wide open and seemingly empty space which was covered by a tent-like ceiling, showing a panoramic view of the valley. His ear twitched when he heard the clicking of machinery. He swiveled around in time to witness a column rise out of the floor and unfold bumpy metallic branches before starting up to spin at an obscene speed. “Reggie, look out!” he was quick enough to warn his friend in time for the raccoon to get slammed across the dojo by the spinning device. “Don’t worry, Reg! I’ll get her for you!” Rufus called to him, turning around to try and do something.

“Rufus!” Reggie fearfully yelled to him in response as the fox turned in time to see a swinging mallet streaking right for him. There was no time to move, as Rufus felt himself get pounded by the swinging block of metal, slammed hard enough to be sent sliding to another side of the dojo.

Both of them struggled to even sit upright when they spotted Adorabat standing at the dojo’s entrance. They could see that she held a particular remote with a single red button in one of her wings. “Hey guys, check this out!” she yelled at them again, pressing the big red button. Adorabat flew back into the house with the sounds of training machinery running – bludgeoning devices, flamethrowers, laser cannons, and the like – and a fox and raccoon screaming in the background.

* * *

Adorabat quickly went onto Mao Mao’s desk phone and dialed it, hoping to get one last phone call in before the dojo’s traps were done. Judging by the sound of a foppish voice coming out the receiver, Adorabat was talking to King Snugglemagne once again, having called him to check up on something she mentioned in her last talk with him over an hour earlier. Considering that Snugglemagne sounded a little dismissive which resulted in Adorabat almost yelling at him through the phone, it was important that she talked to him again. When she was done, she hung up in time for the dojo’s traps to shut down.

* * *

Back in the dojo, Rufus and Reggie were splayed on the wooden floor, completely covered in patches of soot, their fur ruffled up in tufts, and even sprinkled with tiny candle-like flames on the tip of those tufts. Reggie was lying on his back while Rufus laid on his front, both of their faces showing expressions of thorough exhaustion.

At the very least, Reggie still had it in him to remain optimistic. “She’s only a kid, Rufus. We can take her.”

“Oh shut up,” Rufus growled. He did not have time for his slower-witted partner’s pep talk after everything he just went through. He tried to rush back inside the house, but remembered that the porch that connected it and the dojo was still covered in ice, so he and Reggie had to crawl their way forward. Once they were back in the relative safety of the house, they got back on their feet again. But neither got very far when Rufus spotted another suspicious object tied to a string swinging directly towards him. “Heads up!” Rufus yelled before ducking.

Reggie wasn’t so lucky as to register Rufus’s warning in time, still too dazed from the dojo traps. Once Rufus ducked, Reggie was open to being smack-dabbed in the face with a weighted mop-like sponge drenched in soapy bubbling liquid. He was punched into the air and landed back down on the floor with both hands clutching his soap-covered face, trying to scrub his eyes clean.

“Is that all you got?” Rufus yelled in the hopes that Adorabat would hear him, but the moment he turned around was when another swinging sponge of soap impacted him with a splat, knocking him down too.

Adorabat took a moment to taunt Rufus from the ground. “How about a bit of mouthwash?” She scampered off to the stairs leading to the attic.

Rufus wasn’t having it. “You get back here!” he yelled trying to jump for her, but he ended up tripping over the same tripwire that triggered the toy paratroopers earlier. Him still being partially covered in soap only served to keep him from getting up fast enough, even making his hands slip.

Reggie, however, was lucky enough to take advantage of Rufus being down to reach Adorabat on his own. Briefly going past Rufus like using a springboard, he launched himself at Adorabat as she was about to fly up the stairs to the attic and grabbed her by her peg leg.

“Yes! Hahah! I got’er, Rufus!” Reggie yelled victoriously, however much tiredness there was in his voice at the time.

Adorabat struggled. She didn’t expect either one of them to reach her, and she knew this wasn’t good. She felt like panicking as she racked her brain in numerous split-seconds for ideas on how to escape Reggie’s hold. But as luck would have it, she spotted a particular thing crawling along one of the steps of the attic stairs before coming to a stop: Lucky’s pet spider, which had been loose in the house the whole time. For her, it was perfect.

Adorabat stretched her wings as close as she could to the spider while flapping as hard as she could against Reggie’s pulling. It was even harder since Reggie was sporadically yanking her back. Adorabat grunted and gritted her teeth. She was so close. With one wing outstretched, she reached closer and closer to the spider, first grazing the hairy little thing with the tip of her wing before finally grasping it entirely in more of her wing. Without wasting any more time, she turned around to put the spider down on a more convenient spot.

Reggie was so sure that he finally got Adorabat right where he wanted her. He was so sure Rufus would be so happy with him right now. However, his happy thoughts were interrupted by Adorabat turning around with something in one of her wings. “Wha –?” was all he could gasp before Adorabat firmly plopped the horrid thing right on his face. The shock of such a thing made him let go of Adorabat, allowing her to fly away, and his eyes widened as he realized there was now a big hairy spider crawling on his face. He was rendered silent for a moment, but his restrained voice soon released itself in full force:

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!”

Reggie flailed wildly, ricocheting every part of his body in every conceivable direction before converging his hands on his face to throw the spider off himself. Reggie still couldn’t help letting out a few more screeches and dying shrieks even after removing the bug. The spider conveniently landed on Rufus’s belly, as Rufus was lying on his back in a daze after having fallen to the floor once again just a moment before.

* * *

At the roof of the house, which Adorabat stood on thanks to an opening at the top of the attic, she kept the dojo ahead of her in her line of sight. It was the top of the dojo’s ceiling that she aimed for, but she wasn’t quite ready to go yet. She was examining the lines she had set up between the house roof and the dojo’s, making sure they would work exactly as she intended.

* * *

Back in the house, Reggie inched closer to where Rufus lay, keeping his eyes on the spider that stood on Rufus’s belly. Rufus had recovered his mind enough to glance over to Reggie looking down at him. “Reg,” he groaned, “What’s going on?”

Reggie remained fixated on the spider. “ _Rufus_ ,” he whispered, “ _Don’t move_.”

“Reg, what are you doing?” Rufus quietly asked a little more fearfully.

“ _Don’t move_ ,” Reggie said again, his eyes zeroing in on the spider and raising two balled fists high.

“ _Reggie_?” Rufus whimpered.

Reggie threw his fists down upon the spider as hard as he could. But he ended up slamming his fists on Rufus’s poor belly as the spider moved away at the last moment. The impact was hard enough to elicit a loud cry of pain from Rufus, making the fox curl up into a ball and lie on his side, letting out pained yells every two seconds as he rolled around. Rufus was trying to regain control of his voice, letting out incoherent words that were seemingly restrained curses as he held his battered belly.

Reggie was furiously looking left and right on the floor, trying to find the spider he missed in his attempted squashing. “Did I get it?” he exclaimed. “Where is it?” Out of his sight, the spider crawled away to another part of the house, never to be seen again. Reggie still kept looking. “Did I get it?”

Rufus found the adrenaline he needed to get back on his feet. After all, it was one thing to be driven furious by the insolent antics of a child, but to get an extra from his own partner was too much already. “What do you mean ‘ _get it’_ , huh!?” he crowed at Reggie. “How about ‘ _this_ ’!?” he threw a punch on the top of Reggie’s head, “and ‘ _that_ ’!? How do you like it!?” came another punch, finishing with a kick that was hard enough to push Reggie off the floor into the air a little, “you jerk!” Rufus threw a pointing finger in the direction of the attic. “Get that little bat brat!” he barked at Reggie to move to the attic stairs ahead of him, even giving him another shoulder punch to drive the point one last time.

* * *

Adorabat could hear Rufus and Reggie getting ready to go up into the attic after her, so she decided it was the moment to take off. With a spread of her wings, she flapped them and sailed through the air right for the dojo, aiming right for the top of it and then gently descending through the middle until she touched the floor below.

Just in time, Rufus and Reggie were at the top of the attic, having followed the light that was allowed entry through the opening in the roof Adorabat had exited through. They both looked through the hole to scan the outside.

“Where did she go?” Rufus wondered out loud.

“Maybe she jumped,” Reggie hypothesized. That earned him a look from Rufus.

They were interrupted by Adorabat shouting from the dojo below. “I’m down here, you big monster’s behind! Come and get me before call the king on you!”

Reggie was quick to act before Rufus for once. “Come on! Let’s get down after her!” But at the first step, he felt himself being stopped by Rufus, courtesy of him firmly placing his hand over the raccoon’s head. “What?” Reggie protested.

“Not so fast,” came Rufus’s response. “That’s exactly what she wants us to do: go back downstairs into her little funhouse and get torn up all over again.” Rufus kept his eyes outside, then followed the two lines connecting the house roof to the dojo’s top, seeing that they converged at the dojo itself.

Reggie soon picked up what his friend was looking at. “Wait, you wanna go out there?”

“Yes,” said Rufus bluntly. He got moving to try and climb one of the two extended lines despite Reggie’s protests and repeating of his question of going out, which Rufus kept answering with ‘yes’.

Reggie tried to dissuade Rufus as a last-ditch attempt. “But that looks dangerous. Does it even look safe?”

Rufus wasn’t having it. “What’s the matter, Reggie? You scared?” he turned back to the raccoon with a look of frustration and condescension. “Are you scared, Reggie?” His patronizing tone sounded bossy enough to keep Reggie quiet, so Rufus resumed his climbing and beckoned Reggie along. “Come on!”

Rufus carefully climbed along the line he held on to while Reggie climbed the other one across from the fox. Both of them seemingly struggled with staying balanced on the lines, even though they were holding on and inching themselves along with all four limbs.

It didn't keep Reggie from verbally expressing his panic at hanging from a line over a considerably high height anyway. A number of ' _whoa’s_ ’ and ‘ _aah’s_ ’ kept coming out of the raccoon’s mouth as he bobbed on the line he hung on to, each bounce happening more intensely.

They were loud enough to irritate Rufus once again for the umpteenth time. “Will you be quiet!?” he shouted at Reggie when the raccoon let out another cry of fright. When the raccoon ignored his words to do it again, Rufus got even more irate. “Shut it!”

However, when they were more than halfway across the line to the dojo, both the fox and raccoon had their heads turned to the sound of Adorabat calling from the dojo below. “Hey guys!” They looked down to see her standing in the center while holding a long pole. She was holding said pole upright and pointing it at the top of the dojo, specifically at one of the converging ceiling beams in which the elastic line was looped around. From what Rufus and Reggie were seeing, Adorabat was about to push the line up from the beam it was secured around. Adorabat grinned, “Happy Snowfest!”

Now it was Rufus’s turn to panic. “Go back!” he gasped, scrambling to turn around while holding on to the line. Like Reggie, he now was oh so aware of how high above the ground he was at this very moment. He was too much in a hurry to actually figure out how to turn around and go back effectively, bumbling it so much along with Reggie that neither was fast enough to avoid Adorabat pushing the line with her pole loose from the dojo ceiling beam completely.

The sudden release of the line caused it to zoom back to the house roof from where it originated, catching Rufus and Reggie along the way. The speed of the line launched them into the air like the slingshot it was and over into the forest next to the house. Rufus and Reggie screamed the whole way as they were shot into the air together, their voices only ceasing when they crash-landed onto the forest floor with a rustling crunch. Both fox and raccoon slowly lifted their faces out of the snow, dirt, and leaves, and then looked at each other.

Adorabat flew up out of the dojo to have a look at where they landed, cheering to herself before turning in the opposite direction to head towards town once again. Before she went, however, she shouted one last time to the forest where Rufus and Reggie landed. “See ya’, buckos! I'm off to get the king!” She then flew away.

Back in the forest, Rufus and Reggie scraped themselves out of the foliage and raced back to their aerotruck, determined to chase down Adorabat. When they were both in arm’s reach of the truck doors, Reggie could not hold back his open contempt any longer. “Let’s get ’er, Rufus!” he loudly encouraged his fox partner to start the engine, but when Rufus started up the aerotruck and made it hover into the air, he stopped short of driving it in Adorabat’s direction.

“Wait,” the fox verbally contemplated, “She wants us to follow her. I have an idea.” He drove the aerotruck into town, but in a different direction.

* * *

Adorabat flew as quickly as she could as she wove around the packed spaces between the town area’s many multiplexes. She hoped that Rufus and Reggie were following her through the narrow alleys as she needed to lead them close enough to the palace where the royal guards were. If anything, she counted on them being commanded by the king to not allow anyone to disturb his holiday time, especially giving them permission to deal with anyone who tried. She just had to keep moving. At a certain point, Adorabat thought of taking a detour through one of the residential multiplexes near the Ruby Pure Heart mountain. Without any more time to consider where to choose her next flight trajectory, she zipped into the window of a random home.

She would have given no other thought to the interior decorating of any house she’s been to, but her eyes were ensnared by the shocking sight of the house being completely flooded. Water covered the floor of every room in the residence, with its level being high enough to reach up to the tips of Adorabat’s ears if she were to stand at the bottom it. More than a fair number of smaller items were floating on the surface and the sound of flowing water bounced across the walls. Adorabat hurried to one of the closed windows on the other side of the house and flung the shutters open, only to be confronted by Rufus and Reggie waiting in their hovering aerotruck on the other side.

“Why hello again, little brat,” Rufus grinned, with Reggie sitting beside him with a similarly gleeful expression. “Looks like we outsmarted you this time.” In a simultaneously flash, Rufus struck a hand forward to grab Adorabat by her head before she could react, pulling her out the window and away from the flooded house. He now held Adorabat right above the street which was a great deal of meters below the aerotruck, looking as though he would threaten to drop her.

“What are we gonna do to her, Rufus?” Reggie giddily asked his friend, now that he sees that he and Rufus finally have her now.

Rufus was just as eager despite how calm he was in comparison to Reggie. “The exact same thing she did to us,” he leered. “How about, say, fry her scalp with a blowtorch?”

Reggie got the fox's drift right away. “Oh! Then slam her face with an iron!” he energetically added.

Rufus kept going. “And put out her eyes with gardening spray.”

Reggie got just as extra as Rufus. “And stick a nail through her foot!”

Rufus couldn't hold back his own snickers. “The first thing I’m going to do is pluck that stubby peg leg off her squishy body…” he reached his other free hand over to her yellow peg leg to try and grasp it, all while emphasizing, “…very, VERY slowly.”

Adorabat flapped her wings rapidly while swinging herself to try and get free. The attempt made Rufus tighten his squeezing grip on her head even more, but Adorabat still kept fighting. Rufus managed to maneuver his free hand through Adorabat’s flailing limbs to finally grab her peg leg, making her gasp in fear and himself letting out one more victory laugh.

Unknown to the bat, fox, and raccoon, a shadow loomed around the alley corner from the ground below the truck. It stepped a little closer to them before shouting:

“Hey jerks!”

All three of them looked down to see where the hissy shout came from. Adorabat gasped as she recognized who it was while Rufus and Reggie looked more confused as to who that stranger was below them. But none of them had a moment to react to the encounter when the shadow deployed a purple-glowing holographic axe and threw it right at the aerotruck like a spinning boomerang. The strike was strong enough to send the aerotruck spinning in the air out of control.

Even with the violent jostle, Rufus didn't lose his hold on Adorabat. But by that point, the shadow, with his axe retrieved, had jumped right off the rooftop of the nearest multiplex, raising his axe and bringing it down on the flying truck, sending the vehicle hurtling down a little closer to the ground. Adorabat seized the chaotic moment, along with Rufus letting go of her peg leg, to shed her skin and escape the fox’s grasp, leaving behind a molt of her former self.

Rufus struggled to hold on to both Adorabat and the steering wheel. “Let's get out of here!” he exclaimed. But it was when he realized how tight and soft his grip was that he looked to see not Adorabat, but a hollow and crushed molt in the shape of her, prompting him to drop it in frightened shock and disgust. He would have focused himself on driving away, but before he could move the aerotruck another inch, he felt it get bombarded on all sides by multiple concussive bangs. He and Reggie glanced out their windows to see several kinds of projectiles getting launched and fired at them, ranging from giant eggs to a rat-themed boomerang to even a giraffe’s head in a helmet launched from an extended bionic neck. Every one of these strikes was highlighted by loud battle cries coming from what sounded like four individuals at once.

In a short time, the torrent of attacks was too much for the aerotruck, sending it spiraling to the ground in an impromptu crash-landing. The forceful abruptness of the fall was enough for Rufus to accidentally release Adorabat from his grip as he was too focused on not getting creamed in the impending crash.

Adorabat fell through the air as she only had so much time to try and fly, but she was surprisingly snatched out of the air by the shadow who rescued her, holding her in just one of his hands as he temporarily sailed through the air from a jump he made. Adorabat observed from the moonlight that it was exactly who she thought she saw: Orangusnake.

“You!” she gasped at him. “You saved me?”

Orangusnake only huffed at her. “Oh, don't you say another word! This is hard enough for me as it is!”

Adorabat didn't say anything, but she did turn her head to observe the aerotruck going down hard, her curious eyes wide open in amazement at the spectacle and even breathing out a quiet ' _whoa_ ’.

* * *

After several long minutes of apprehending Rufus and Reggie after watching them crawl out of the wreckage of their vehicle, Orangusnake and his Sky Pirates – Boss Hosstrich, Ramaraffe, and Ratarang – were holding the fox and raccoon in their hands very tightly. By that time, a number of King Snugglemagne’s guards had arrived on the scene in preparation for taking the two off their hands.

“You sure did a good job in the neighborhood,” Orangusnake came forward to gloat in the two’s faces. “Thanks to your flooding, we know each and every house you hit.”

There was even an extra quip from Boss Hosstrich, who looked more disappointed than smug. “You no good fellas gone and gave more work for our captain here! Now you gonna learn!”

As they were both being taken away by the royal guards, Reggie seized his moment to shine. “Yeah? Well, the next time you see a flooded house, you'll know our names! We're Rufus and Reggie, the Special Men! You hear me?”

His loud attempted boast got him a swift kick in the rear from Rufus, who was already vainly struggling to get free from the guards’ grip as is. “WILL YOU SHUT UP!?” the fox angrily screeched at the raccoon.

Ratarang waved goodbye at them in his standard mischief. “See you in the dungeons, as in NEVER, heehee!”

Before they were taken away, Rufus turned his head to take one last look at Adorabat. Adorabat knew her work was done dealing with them, so she gave the fox a little wave and her best naughty smile as a parting farewell to a criminal could be. Rufus silently replied with a teeth-bared half-snarl of his own, showing a few teeth missing from his battered, ruffled, and soot-covered face. In a little while, Rufus and Reggie were taken away to be locked up.

Adorabat turned her attention back to Orangusnake, who was in the middle of a light conversation with the rest of his pirate crew. She flew to them close enough to get their attention, as she just wanted to talk. “All of you came,” she innocently said to them. “I thought you were staying in your ship to keep warm.”

“Well, we were,” Ramaraffe confirmed to her, “but then captain told us he needed help with some work with a bunch of flooded houses and wanted us to stop being lazy.” But she then paused as she realized who she was talking to. “Gah! It’s the bat brat!” she cried, almost falling from taking a sudden step back. Ramaraffe’s words appeared to have alerted Boss Hosstrich and Ratarang as well, making the former deploy his cannon from his torso to aim at Adorabat while the latter transformed into a boomerang uselessly.

“Hmph! Rude!” Adorabat puffed her cheeks with a slightly offended look in her eyes.

Orangusnake raised a hand to block his crew from doing anything else. “Hold your fire, all of you!” he commanded. “She isn’t a threat, like I said.”

Ignoring Adorabat’s offended protests towards not being seen as threatening, Ratarang turned to face Orangusnake. “Is it true she’s all alone, boss?”

“For the fiftieth time, yes! She is!” Orangusnake sighed, putting his axe away. “She’s also not going to hurt us, because I…asked her not to.”

“But you said you been fighting with her the last few days,” Boss Hosstrich pointed out. “I’m not sure she’s safe to touch.”

“And I’m sure she beat us without the sheriff before too,” Ramaraffe added.

Orangusnake groaned. “ _Please don’t remind me._ ” He directed himself to keep all three of them in his line of sight. “But we talked earlier and agreed to lay off each other until the sheriff comes back. It’s cold and it’s Snowfest, so we agreed to call ‘timesies’ until further notice.”

The three pirates paused to think about what they just heard. “You think she’ll keep that promise?” Ramaraffe asked on the others’ behalf.

“Oh please,” Orangusnake scoffed, “if anyone’s going to break a promise here, it’d be us. One more evil thing for us to do for the holidays…”

Adorabat watched as the other pirates put themselves back at ease, going back to address Orangusnake again. “Well…thanks anyway,” she told him in gratitude for rescuing her from Rufus and Reggie, though the Sky Pirate captain tried not to look too happy at this tiny show of affection. Adorabat continued, “So what are you gonna do now?”

Orangusnake shrugged his shoulders. “Well, considering our work solving the flooded house mystery is over now, I guess we’ll just go back to our ship. We got enough to last another hunker-down or two, thanks to all my work around here.” With a nonverbal beckon to his crew, the crew turned to walk back out of town. As they went, Orangusnake gave Adorabat last parting words. “See you when Mao Mao comes back.”

Adorabat watched them leave, but then remembered something she wanted to say to them too. She let out her words directed to them in a loud voice before they got too far away to hear. “You have a good Snowfest Day tomorrow!”

Orangusnake lifted a hand in a halfhearted farewell wave despite not turning around to look at her or even stopping. “Yeah sure, we will,” he answered sarcastically, “not like tomorrow will be any warmer than tonight.”

* * *

After the pirates left, Adorabat went back to HQ. The first thing she did after winding down was clean up all the traps she had set up before, making sure every part of the house looked exactly as it was before Rufus and Reggie came there.

She sat by the lit tree in the living room and looked out the window after having set down a plate of cookies and a glass of milk for the Gift-Saint. She looked out longingly to the snow-laden landscapes outside, even watching the mountains in the distance as snow gently began to fall. She thought about the request she made to the Gift-Saint’s messenger earlier, and with earnestness in her heart, hoped that she would see Mao Mao, Badgerclops, her dad, and even the rest of her classmates again tomorrow. She was hopeful, but she still felt sad too.

Tonight was Snowfest Eve after all, and as of the countdown to Snowfest Day, she only had half of the warm holiday cheer. For all the presents she thought she would have, she would rather spend her time with the people she loved most, her family. At least Orangusnake still had his. For a while longer, she stayed next to the tree and kept looking out the window as more snow fell before she finally decided to go to bed.


	16. Chapter 16

It was very well into the beginning of the slumbering hours of the night, and most of the ground bus’s passengers had drifted off to sleep in their seats. Apart from the driver, the only ones remaining awake were Mao Mao, Eugene, and Camille. Camille was quietly experimenting with some small-scale modifications to a spell while Mao Mao and Eugene could only sit quietly while observing the outside without any other emotion.

“ _I’m a bad parent_ ,” Eugene quietly said out of the blue. There was no more strong sorrowful emotion in his tone. He was mostly just tired and contemplative.

Mao Mao already got right to trying to refute the bespectacled bat’s self-inflicted criticism. “No, you’re not. You’re beating yourself too hard about this.”

Eugene turned away from the window to face the sheriff. “How you can tell me that. You freaked out just as hard when we all first realized our mistake.”

Mao Mao sighed. “Well, if you wanna talk about bad parents, just consider me. Adorabat’s lived with me long enough that I’m just as responsible for her. If anything, I should’ve been the one to keep track of her, being the sheriff and all.”

Eugene hung his head down to look blankly at his lap. “But I’m her dad…literally, I mean. You can take care of her any way that works for you, but me? I’m supposed to be able to care for her no matter what. You’re forgiven. I’m not.”

Mao Mao turned his head to look at the opposite side of the bus, trying to pay no mind to the other passengers surrounding them. “You know, I’m only able to take care of Adorabat based on what I knew from my dad.” When he sensed Eugene now looking at him after hearing that, he continued. “My father, he…at least made an effort to do things any father would. He taught, he trained, he showed off the way things are done…heh, if you could see just how great my sisters became because he raised them…”

Eugene didn’t know what to say, so Mao Mao kept going. “As he paid attention to my sisters, they got better while I was always left to catch up since I got to learn pretty much nothing from him. Maybe for them, he was a good father, but when it came to me…I never quite knew what to think.” He rested his chin on his hand with an elbow on the seat in front of him. “My whole life, I kept wondering and wondering just what was it about me that made my dad’s love and care fall short, and later, about him that he would fall short of one last kid when he's attended to the other five.”

Eugene kept quiet for a little longer but then took his chance to add to the conversation. “Well, I know I can't say I've been a star dad either. When I first met you and Badgerclops, I was asking for Adorabat after eight months, like you said. I already messed up by realizing she was missing from home after that long. It didn't matter that this time, I remembered her much sooner, but I still made that same mistake.” He looked back out the window in contemplation. “Every time I look at her, I ask myself if Sonara, her mom, would be alright with the job I did. And then I might ask her that same question too, considering she was way better at that whole thing than I could ever try to be.”

Neither the bat or cat could say any more, but stayed in their seats as they sank back into their tiredly guilty thoughts. Despite how tied they felt at that point, they were still too upset to get any actual sleep.

“Well, if it's any consolation,” Camille interrupted in a surprisingly indoor voice, “your whole parenting and child-rearing challenges aren't any different from the work I do.”

Mao Mao sighed with a growl. “Camille, just…I'm not in the mood. We’re not in the mood for this.”

Camille dismissed the sheriff's complaint with a flick of her wrist. “Oh let me have my turn to say my piece, won't you?” She looked back at the miniature cauldron in her lap. “In all my years serving as a magic technician for the king, there's one thing I always picked up from every new thing made by me and Honey.” She carefully tipped the cauldron to pour a little bit of the formula into something resembling a test tube. “Every potion, every machine that smokes, explodes, or proves a dud, it's never stopped me. For every failure, I check what went wrong, what was missing, what I added too much of, and once I get the result I want, it’s ready to be written down as a new recipe and instruction manual.”

Mao Mao looked away with his arms crossed, not sure if he should entertain the chameleon’s spiel. But Eugene thought such dialogue was better than the silent wordless mulling he and Mao Mao had been doing ever since they got on the road. “What's your point?”

Camille giggled as she sealed every little test tube she filled from her now-empty cauldron. “My point is, don't let every setback set you back. If something goes wrong, fix it or change it so the next time it's about to happen again, it doesn’t.” She secured all the tubes in a satchel she kept at her side. “Sure, you forgot this little girl once. Heck, I forget things all the time.”

“ _And that's the truth_ ,” Mao Mao leaned in and whispered into Eugene’s ear.

Camille continued, “But thanks to Honey, no amount of forgetting’s made me fall behind in my work.” She spared a glance at Honey herself, who was reclined back on her seat, asleep like the other passengers. “If you're really thinking of fixing things up with your little girl, just try out something, anything. Whatever you do might make it better or worse, but at least you'll know and you can stop running around without a head about how to get on with it.” With that said, the chameleon lady put aside her things, leaned back on her seat, and shut her eyes. “ _Ah,_ ” she sighed in satisfaction, “ _Snoozes_ : always taking up so much time but just so rewarding.” In under a minute, she was already snoring.

Eugene looked back at Mao Mao, whose eyes were opened extra wide in epiphanic surprise. The feeling was mutual with the teal bat. One exchanged look and they both appeared to understand how they could get through this ordeal, as though they no longer felt as lost as they used to.

For the rest of the drive to Pure Heart Valley, Mao Mao and Eugene slept soundly through the night.


	17. Day 5 - Snowfest Day

The light of the sun returned to Pure Heart Valley the following morning. Snow was falling from a radiant overcast sky in heavy amounts. It looked as though white feathers were being poured from a giant pillow up above or big white flakes dancing in the water of a snow globe. Either way, the packed clumps of snowflakes drifted down to the snow-covered ground, which was covered in a flawless and untouched layer of white like a blanket.

Adorabat was hanging from her spot on the bunk bed in the bedroom, gently and softly snoring away. But her slumber stopped soon enough as her eyes slowly opened, allowing her to drift awake and take in her surroundings. Seeing how quiet the place was and also the snow falling outside the window, she immediately realized what today was.

Releasing her hanging grip, Adorabat instantly flew out of the room to make her way to the living room, hoping to find who she wished for standing by the tree.

“Mao Mao?” she called happily. “Mao Mao? Dad? Badgerclops?”

She got the lit and decorated Snowfest tree in her line of sight with an anticipated smile, but the smile dropped when she saw none of the story. It looked exactly the same as she left it last night. She turned away from the tree and landed back on the floor with a tap. Going to the front door, she opened it to look outside, still hoping to find anyone out there. There was just snow. Disappointed, she closed the door. With nothing else left to hope and wait for, the little bat turned and walked back to the bedroom.

* * *

As soon as the ground bus stopped in just within Pure Heart Valley’s main border, Mao Mao and Eugene were already off it. Not stopping to notice that the bus left in the same second it took for them to get off, they sprinted with all their renewed energy in the direction of HQ.

Mao Mao ran and Eugene flew until they got to the elevator platform at the bottom of the cliff that HQ sat at the top of. Mao Mao twitched his legs as he felt progressively antsier from having to wait out the slow trip up, being the one riding the elevator after all. Eugene, on the other hand, flew up to the top of the cliff and waited for Mao Mao to arrive. As soon as both were together in front of HQ, they rushed to the front door. Being the one who was in charge of the residence, Mao Mao hurriedly unlocked the door and stepped into the main atrium. Upon re-entering the house for the first time, both the bat and cat were out of breath as they looked left and right.

“Adorabat!” Mao Mao called. “Adorabat?”

“Little gem!” Eugene called as well. “Are you here?”

* * *

A little while before Mao Mao and Eugene got through the door, Adorabat was sitting in the bedroom, sitting on her bunk with a picture frame in her wings. She was looking at the photo – the family photo – that was taken of herself, Mao Mao, and Badgerclops, thinking of them and the memories she had of them the whole time. She kept her eyes on the photo until she heard noises, particularly a click from what she was certain was the front door. Then, it was when she heard two of the voices she longed to hear for the whole week. Her eyes widened, her ears perked up, and a gaping jaw-drop that soon turned into an anticipating smile once again graced her features, prompting her to put down the picture and fly back to the main atrium.

* * *

Before Adorabat came out, Mao Mao saw that the house still looked the same as when he left it a week ago. He would have started to worry again if it wasn't for Eugene tapping him to look over to the side of the living room. The sight of a little tree next to the window, decorated in ornaments and lights, and with a glass of milk and plate of cookies sitting at its side, warmed his heart as it did the bat’s. It made him happy that Adorabat was still able to keep to the Snowfest spirit, but at the same time, he felt bad that she had to do all this alone, that she had to work that much because he wasn't around because of his oversight. The smile didn't leave his face regardless, same with Eugene.

* * *

At the same time they were both looking at the tree, Adorabat rushed out and gasped in joy at who she saw. She landed onto the floor to compose herself, and soon enough, Mao Mao and Eugene turned to see the little bat standing across the living room from them. Neither side could have been happier their whole lives at that very moment.

Mao Mao fought to keep himself from hyperventilating in total joy, his eyes already beginning to water. Eugene already beat him to the waterworks though, but also couldn't contain his voice any longer. “Happy Snowfest, little gem,” he told her tenderly.

Adorabat returned the gesture with a look of warmth, but soon faltered into a bit of disappointment, a faint frown and disappointed eyes being evident on her face. All three of them knew why that was.

“Oh Adorabat, we’re so sorry,” Mao Mao said to her, regret refilling his heart. “We didn't mean to leave you, but we’re sorry. I promise I'll never do that to you again.”

Adorabat kept her long face for a moment, but in no time, her smile returned. “It’s okay,” she said. Without another word, she took off into the air and went right for Mao Mao, flying at a speed test enough to give the black cat an ‘ _oof_ ’ when landed into his embrace.

Mao Mao didn't mind it one bit. In fact, he was laughing and crying at the same time as he held her in his arms in a strong affectionate hug after catching her in her flying dash. He held her tight and even nuzzled his cheek against her own as he felt like crying tears of joy already. Eugene joined in on the emotional embrace as well by jumping and wrapping his wings around Mao Mao’s arms which held Adorabat, locking in the warm hug as he held on. Like a cherry on top, he too was letting out joyful sobs of his own.

The group hug lasted for a minute or so before they broke up to give each other room to breathe. Adorabat got right to it first. “Where’s everybody else?”

Mao Mao thought she was going to show her disappointed face again. “Oh Adorabat, they couldn’t make it. They wanted to come, but –” Before he could say further, to his surprise, he thought he could hear multiple voices coming from the other side of the closed front doors.

Eugene and Adorabat could hear the voices too, and they got louder and closer until the doors opened, prompting both of them plus Mao Mao to turn and look at the source. Eugene and Mao Mao looked surprised while Adorabat, on the other hand, was amazed and overjoyed. Despite the loud bickering and just-as-loud attempts at mediation that was happening, Adorabat was happy to see the actual faces of whom the voices originated from as they all were walking in.

“Hey! I wasn’t snoring that loud on the transport!” argued Chubbum who was talking to Kevin.

“Yes, you were!” Kevin loudly refuted. “Nobody else was sleeping!”

“Yes! We’re back! This vacation was so boring!” Lucky exclaimed.

“No, it wasn’t! It was a disaster!” Ketchup corrected Lucky’s claim.

“Hey kids, take it easy! It’s Snowfest!” Badgerclops tried to sedge his way into their conversations while moving them along fast enough so he could get inside too and close the door. “But yeah, this trip was still kind of a total drag.”

The moment all of them got their sights on Adorabat, their previous bickering turned to elation and relief. All the other kids crowded around her, saying her name loudly as though they would have a party any moment. Even Badgerclops got in on it by grabbing her in both of his hands and lifting her up like a newborn baby before pulling her in for a hug.

“Oh, Adorabat! You’re okay! You’re still in one piece!” the badger happily cried as he rubbed his cheek on the little bat in his arms just as Mao Mao did. He held her for a second longer before putting her down again. “I gotta tell you: It’s crazy cool you stayed this long without bringing the place down.”

Adorabat smiled at the badger’s humor and flew up to sit on his shoulder. “Thanks, Badgerclops,” she responded, leaning on the side of his head as she took in the sweet affectionate essence of the other person she missed just as much all week.

Mao Mao was already in mild shock about Badgerclops and the kids being back just when he was talking about them all. The same could be said for Eugene. “Hold on. How did you all get back?”

Badgerclops answered that question so relaxingly as though it wasn’t even a chore. “We took the morning flight, dude. You know, the one you and Eugene didn’t wanna to wait for?”

Normally, Mao Mao would have tried to make a stronger and more aggressive comeback, but he was just too happy with everyone being all together again on top of reuniting with Adorabat that he just hugged Badgerclops. After releasing the badger from his hold, the sheriff pretended to dust himself off.

“Well then, now that that affair’s in order,” Mao Mao took on an exaggerated mock-business tone, “We should probably check if there’s an open store in town. The fridge’s already out of milk.”

That appeared to slightly sour Badgerclops’s mood. “What? We just get back and you already want to make us go shopping? You know it’s Snowfest, right?”

Luckily before Mao Mao could give an intense retort and start an argument between himself and the badger, Adorabat used her quick-thinking to step in. “It’s okay. I already went shopping yesterday.”

Everybody turned their eyes to her, completely stricken silent, complete with Mao Mao, Badgerclops, and Eugene with stunned and beguiled looks on their faces. It was understandable, given that she was a 5-year-old kid. “You went shopping?” Eugene asked her, pausing in between each word to show just how stunned he was.

Adorabat nodded with the utmost confidence, even holding her wings behind her back to look even better. “That’s right. I got milk, bread, and even a few microwaveable dinners.”

There was instant amazement written all over Badgerclops’s face. “Whoa, that’s so cool! You’re so amazing!” At first, he had gasped, but then it turned to an opportunistic giggle. “Really, Adorabat! That’s a great job you did!”

“Don’t even think about it, Badgerclops,” Mao Mao cut him off sternly. “You’re still doing your chores.” Ignoring the badger sticking his tongue out at him, Mao Mao focused his attention back on Adorabat. “So you went shopping by yourself,” he reiterated like he was doing a hero’s assessment, but said it like it was all in good fun, “What else did you do while we were away?”

Adorabat, keeping her lighthearted smile, shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, “Just hung around.”

Everyone, both the adults and the other kids, laughed at the statement. With nothing else to discuss, the grownups got right to getting the other kids settled back in, transferring all the luggage in a proper place in HQ while making arrangements to have the kids sent home to their families later in the day. Adorabat could only watch them pass by, remarking to each other about how they couldn’t believe she actually went out shopping by herself and speculating among themselves about other grownup things she might have done over the week. Among the words they spoke, she could make out ones like, “ _She’s 5 and she went shopping?_ ”, “ _She took care of the house for a whole week!_ ”, and so on. After some small last shows of affection from Mao Mao, Eugene, and Badgerclops before they went off, Adorabat decided to take a little stroll out to the dojo.

While she went, Lucky thought he spotted a familiar thing crawling near one corner of the house. “My spider!” he happily remarked out loud, hurrying towards it. “There you are! How have you been, my little sweetie?” he tenderly asked it as he scooped it up into his hands, giving it the goo-goo-eyed look.

Stepping onto the dojo’s veranda, Adorabat thoughtfully took in the view of Pure Heart Valley, from the town area in the distance below to the Ruby Pure Heart that stood so high up even further away. As the snow fell from all around outside, Adorabat pondered about the Sky Pirates who rescued her from Rufus and Reggie last night. She hoped that King Snugglemagne would follow through on the request she sent to him over the phone – twice – as she understood, or at least had a good idea of, the seriousness in how he regarded the holiday. She wondered how the Sky Pirates were doing on their own.

* * *

Over in another corner of Pure Heart Valley, in a grove of barren trees surrounding a downed airship covered in snow like everything else, things were a little more crowded than expected. Orangusnake and his crew planned to spend most of their Snowfest Day inside the ship, making due with whatever amenities the captain was able to earn during his volunteer labor over the week. The Sky Pirates even thought about starting a bonfire in the ship to try and have a little party with any food earned, though Orangusnake would have an objection or two first.

However, they were all interrupted by disturbances coming from outside, so they looked out from the top to investigate. As expected, Orangusnake was in front to represent his crew. “Who goes there?” he called down to whoever was intruding below. He and the other pirates were unable to register the looks of surprise on their faces when they recognized the king’s guards making up the visiting group. Their surprise even doubled when seeing those guards surrounding several giant loads of things carried on sleds.

One leading guard at the front of the group was the first to answer back. “Present delivery by decree of the king! Can you verify the pickup?”

All the pirates looked at each other, none of them remembering having a talk with the king about some request for things. Wondering if there was a mix-up, Boss Hosstrich thought he’d do the courteous thing and be forthright about this matter. “Well, there must be some kind of mis –” He was promptly tackled by Orangusnake, Ramaraffe, and Ratarang before he could complete his statement, being additionally pulled from outside view for discussion.

“ _Boss Hosstrich, those are free goodies!_ ” Orangusnake hissed quietly, “ _I don’t know why they’re here, but we’re not turning that away! Heck, don’t even ask why they’re giving it to us!_ ” He waited until the ostrich nodded his head in compliance to release him. Everyone made their way down to ground level, exiting the ship to greet the guards and receive the goods.

Addressing the senders, Orangusnake cleared his throat. “Well, uh, thank you!” he tried to be formal. “Those are some nice goodies. You can just put them in the first room ahead.” He pointed his arm to the entrance, allowing the guards to start moving the deliveries into the ship. As every guard moved on, the pirate captain thought he’d snag the main messenger guard for a last quick question. “Hey, uh, so any reason your king decided to give us all this?”

The guard answered the pirate captain’s question like it was just small talk like any other. “Oh, well you know, the king likes to give out cheap goodies close to Snowfest and wanted to be done last night…” Orangusnake nodded in affirmation as he waited for the guard to get through another verbal trip-up, “…but he got a couple calls from a little kid pestering him to do it again for you today.”

Orangusnake raised an eye ridge. “A little kid pestered him?” He had a good idea who that kid was, but though he’d ask anyway. “Did he say who the kid was?”

The guard playfully rolled his eyes. “Oh, I don’t know. We just heard him talking on the phone, mostly holding the phone away from his ear when loud girly screeches came out of it and then talking about knowing the sheriff and whatnot…”

Orangusnake heard enough. He turned to go back inside the ship, passing by the guards leaving after having dropped off everything. He felt pleased as he observed Ramaraffe, Boss Hosstrich, and Ratarang jumping around and helping themselves to the giant pile of things, letting out cries of joy at the same time.

“There’s so much yummy food here!” Ramaraffe exclaimed joyfully in childish guile.

“It’s so beautiful!” Ratarang concurred. “We can be warm all through winter!”

“Hey boss, did you win all this stuff?” Boss Hosstrich called to his captain.

Orangusnake would have answered by saying the name of the child likely responsible for this episode of good fortune, but he decided to just let it be for today. It was Snowfest, after all. “Eh, some friendly Sweetypie neighbor wanted to wish a Happy Snowfest to the poor folks with little, those folks being us. We’ll get her next time.”

He stopped right in front of the present pile to pull out a packaged box holding a still-warm pie. He let out his classic pirate-like announcement voice. “Who’s up for Snowfest lunch today?” In no time at all, the three other pirates were loudly and excitedly telling him that they most definitely were up for a warm meal.

* * *

Adorabat allowed a smile to form on her face as she looked in the direction she felt the Sky Pirates’ ship might be. She normally didn’t do nice stuff for criminals like them, but for the sake of the spirit and cheer, she felt the need to spread the kindness to at least some people. After all, again, it was ‘timesies’.

The peaceful joy she felt would have lasted a lot longer if it weren’t for two familiar but startlingly loud voices resonating from the basement, making not just her but the other kids and Eugene jump. The loud indignant voices sounded like they were speaking in unison, making Adorabat’s recognition of hearing Mao Mao and Badgerclops all the more acute:

“ADORABAT! WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE GARAGE!!?”

Adorabat gasped with wide eyes, then thought it might be a good time to take another mini-flight into town right about now. With a flap of her wings, she was out of the dojo and flying through the open valley air.

It was definitely a ‘Happy Snowfest’ today.


End file.
